Pakistan

Underlying Pakistan’s three experiments with a federal arrangement in the form of the 1956, 1962 and 1973 constitutions, there has been a persistent concern about constraining the numerical majority of the largest province, first East Bengal and later Punjab. The first two constitutions had virtually eliminated the federal principle in West Pakistan by merging the four provinces and various princely states into one megaprovince called One-Unit in order to establish parity between the two wings of the state. In post-Bangladesh Pakistan, while the 1973 Constitution provided a strong centre with scant provincial autonomy, it tacitly acknowledged the linguistic majorities of the four provinces as legitimate representatives of their respective federating units. Together, these developments brought the issue of provincial autonomy to the centre of the stage in Punjab-dominated national politics championed by the three smaller provinces of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. 37 years after the promulgation of the 1973 Constitution, the 18th Amendment finally addressed this issue with full strength. Pakistan in the following half decade is expected to experience what by all means is going to be a tempestuous process of shifting several ministries and divisions from the federal to provincial capitals. There can be resistance from the army and the centralist bureaucracy against the perceived dilution of state authority on the one hand and ‘minorities’ from the three smaller provinces against their perceived persecution at the hands of the majority communities of these provinces on the other.