The prolonged and mad fixation of the two big political parties and the country’s media with the by election of NA 122 Lahore kept the political focus of the country hostage for quite some time. For many days there was very little space in the so called mainstream media of the country for issues like war on terror in the country, military operation in FATA, the miseries of millions of Pashtun IDPs, bloodshed in Balochistan, turmoil in Karachi, load shedding, the menace of polio, and last but not the least the deteriorating situation on both the eastern and western borders of the country. It was flabbergasting to see the obsession of the two big parties withbye-elections in just one constituency of the National Assembly, which is a house of 342 members. It is particularly so when the federal government of Muslim League (N) has a comfortable majority and loss of one seat would not have made any difference in the parliamentary strength of the ruling party. There is one and only one explanation for the aforementioned obsession. The contest was not for just one National Assembly seat. It was about Takht-e-Lahore (throne of Lahore) which decides as to who will rule the country. So the fixation with NA 122 was basically a mere symptom of the deeper and more serious malaise, the growing Punjabisation of Pakistani politics and further marginalization of the population wise smaller units of the federation in the last few years.
Now to call these phenomena new one would be factually wrong. The hegemony of the Punjabi ruling elite over the state system and its policies has dogged the country through out its existence. Interestingly this imbalance prevailed even in the undivided Pakistan when the then East Pakistan (Bengal) had a bigger population than the population of all the four western provinces put together. The aforementioned imbalance was embedded in the state structure inherited by Pakistan from the colonial era. Pakistan had a week political class, week parliament and a week judiciary from day one. Compared to these institutions we got an over developed civil and military bureaucracy of the colonial system that launched the first coup in 1954 by dissolving the Constituent Assembly of the country. In 1955 One Unit was created by coercing all the provinces and regions to merge in West Pakistan Province with Lahore as its capital to counter the population weight of the then East Pakistan. But even then the East Pakistan had 54 percent of the country’s total population. So the then East Pakistan was forced to disenfranchise part of its population by accepting the principle of “ parity” (50 percent seats in the National Assembly) for “ greater national interests”. The martial law imposed in 1958 further reinforced this oppressive and exploitative system. This development led to severe crises that culminated in the disintegration of the country in 1971, a history well known to all.
In the aftermath of the debacle in East Pakistan the ruling establishment dominated by military and civil bureaucracy had to beat a retreat and elected representatives of the people were able to frame a federal, parliamentary democratic Constitution in the country in 1973. But the authoritarian establishment could not reconcile with a federal democratic system. So it consistently worked for undermining the system. After learning of the previous two unsuccessful efforts, in 1977 General Zia led a successful coup and the first casualty was the Constitution. It was not only suspended but its federal and democratic structure was also undermined by distortions and deformations inserted in it by the military dictator. Subsequently Musharraf imposed many more distortions in the Constitution. After the 2008 general elections democratic forces of the country tried to cleans the Constitution from distortions and deformations and bring the original federal and democratic character of the Constitution back. Although they could only partially succeeded in achieving that aim but the 18th Constitutional Amendment was a landmark development in terms of abolition of the concurrent legislative list and devolution of power to the provinces.
PML-N had supported the 18th Amendment because it also did away with the ban on third time prime ministership inserted in the Constitution by GeneralMusharraf to prevent Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto from becoming prime minister for the third time. Having achieved that purpose the current ruling party has not hidden its reservations about the 18th Amendment. It has revived ministries of health and education ministries in violation of the Constitution. The federal government has not been calling the constitutionally mandatory meetings of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) in 90 days. The unfinished task of devolution of powers under the 18th Amendment remains unfinished and there is no visible movement on this front. Federal government is not an abstract or neutral entity. It is by and large an extension of the Punjabi ruling elite. So for obvious reasons the ruling party is least interested in devolution of power and would roll back whatever is achieved so far.
But that is not all. The military dominated Pakistani state system is neither neutral nor politically inactive. It resorts to political engineering by tilting state policies into certain direction and at times by using naked coercion. The unlimited and growing powers of the apex committees, that do not figure anywhere in the country’s law or
Constitution has practically reversed whatever little autonomy the provinces had enjoyed in the past. Provincial governments in Balochistan and Sindh have been rendered dangerously powerless. As if that was not enough PTI has expanded its political power base with the clear support of the establishment. Nationalist and progressive political forces (in comparative terms) in the smaller provinces, weather in power or in the opposition, have faced growing pressure of state institutions. Media control has played an important role in it for casting political leaders in the roles of either Devils or Angels. Alternative to a Punjab based PML (N) has been created in the shape of PTI, representing another faction of Punjabi elite. It is not surprising to see these developments accompanied by more overt support for Afghan Taliban confirming the nature of overall state policies.
These developments practically amount to a reversion to a not so invisible One Unit even without any pretension of its constitutionality. It’s a policy rejected by the people in the past and will be also resisted in the future. Using force to impose it will certainly lead to the rise of centrifugal forces and weakening of the forces believing in the federation. Make no mistake about it.
The writer is a retired Senator and an analyst of regional affairs.