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Published bySydney French Modified over 9 years ago
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Mohammad Waseem
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The 1935 India Act (federation-in- making) The 1940 Lahore Resolution: maximum provincial autonomy (a con-federal formula?) The 1947 Independence of India Act (Section 92-A): Centre's powers of dismissing provincial governments A quasi-federal state?
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Two wings of the state: State elite (West Pakistan)/ demographic preponderance (East Pakistan) One-province-dominates-all Military-bureaucratic formula for the 1956 and 1962 Constitutions: --One Unit (merger of provinces and states/ end of federalism in West Pakistan) b) Inter-wing parity
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Punjab: One-province-dominates-all Solution: Two houses of parliament Senate: Territorial chamber with equal representation for all provinces A majority-constraining formula Asymmetrical policy scope of the two houses (Senate: no control over money bills vs Brazil and US with more powers for the upper house)
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Symmetrical federalism -a mechanical approach? (non-sensitive to size, demography and resource base of federating units); the US model Asymmetrical federalism: India --avoiding the anomaly of small states overriding the large states --Upper chamber sensitive to population --Space for new provinces
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Historical, ethnic and linguistic sources of identity of federating units (vs territorial/ administrative sources: US, Canada, Germany) Ethnic hierarchy: challenge for federalism Overlapping ethnic and provincial boundaries Federalization of Pakistan: The 1973 Constitution (de jure recognition of ethnic provinces)
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1935/ 1956: Federal, Concurrent and Provincial lists 1962: Federal list (vs. residuary subjects with provinces) 1973: Federal and Concurrent lists (no provincial list-only residuary powers) 2010 18 th Amendment: Federal list (Concurrent list abolished: 40 out of 47 subjects transferred to residuary list)
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India Language in, religion out (as legitimate source of identity) Re-organization of provinces on a linguistic basis Pakistan Religion in, language out No provincial re-organization Occasional nod to administrative provinces Legal constraints in the way of new provinces
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Parliamentary sovereignty: Article 58(2)(B) Abolishing the Concurrent List Representation for minorities in the Senate Lifting the ban on a third term for PM Appointing judges by Judicial Commission Integration of FATA with KP/no Accountability of ISI, MI, other security agencies/no Establishment of a Federal Constitutional Court/no
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The 2009 NFC Award: revised share of the divisible pool of tax receipts: --between the Centre and provinces (56% 2010-11 to 57.5% for subsequent years --among provinces: reducing the share of Punjab to 51.74%/, doubling the share of Balochistan to 9.09% Revising the criteria beyond population --now including poverty, revenue generation and inverse population density
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Prior consultation with provinces (hydro-electricity) Provincial share not less than previous NFC Award Biannual of implementation of NFC Award Periodic presentation of the report to parliament Expansion of membership Mandatory quarterly meetings Provinces raising loans at home and abroad Provinces issuing guarantees/ consolidated fund Joint/ equal ownership of mineral wealth by the Centre and provinces
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A coup against the Centre? Political institutions: --Two steps forward to shared sovereignty: (ethnic parties; minority provinces) State institutions: --One step back (army and bureaucracy; fear of the loss of power, disintegration of the country)
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CivilianMilitary ParticipationStability ConsensusUnity Co-ordination Command Horizontal viewVertical view DemocracySecurity Devolution as Devolution as strength weakness
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Bottlenecks: Weak federal government (vis-à-vis army and judiciary) Limited infrastructural capacity of provinces Securitization of the national vision (army) Administrative centralization (bureaucracy) Financial centralization (bureaucracy)
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Alienation of ‘secondary’ communities via provincial identity (1973) and provincial autonomy (2010) Demand for new linguistic provinces (for speakers of Urdu (Sindh), Pushto (Balochistan), Hindko (KP) and Seraiki (Punjab) Unlikely protagonists: PML-N (Karachi), MQM (Hazara, Siraikistan), PML-Q (Hazara), PPP (Saraikistan) Language creeping in as a factor?
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Province, not district, as the pivot of ethnic federalism Ethnicity in, locality out Local bodies: Military government’s instrument for undercutting political parties Local bodies: Flip side of the demand for a new province (Mohajirs in Sindh)
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Centralist establishment (army and bureaucracy): no space for devolution Constitution, no bulwark against Bonapartism Revenue-raising authority mainly with the Centre (90%): (source of military funding) Political initiative in the hands of army (foreign policy, operation against terrorists)
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