5. Democracy and federalism in Pakistan

Pakistan inherited federalism from the British colonial rule, however, its true spirit was lost for trivial vested interests. A vicious circle of mistrust and lack of coordination resulted in creating a chasm of political differences between the center and the provinces and among provinces that led to political instability in the country. The real spirit of federalism was not achieved because of this distrust. A perpetual infight was going on between the center and provinces concerning distribution of resources and powers that further restrain the center-province relationship. The demand to have new provinces is not a new demand. This demand has been raised from time to time on the basis of ethnic grounds, distribution of national resources and sometimes on the basis of socioeconomic backwardness of the relevant areas.

International Journal of Educational Administration, Management, and Leadership

This article would attempt explore the roots of federation of Pakistani with respect to analyzing its political and Constitutional history from the British India. Because the idea of federation in this region has its roots in that period. The ideas of federalism emerged from the British introduced constitutional schemes. In response to that schemes, Congress and Muslim League had its own demands and which manifest their particular orientation for federalism. The theme of this article is to explore the differences of Congress and Muslim League on the federal arrangement in British India and on the future union of India. In this regard position of Muslim League is especially put in to consideration that what the party has its ideology regarding the federal form of government. For understanding the nature of Muslim league’s ideology regarding federalism, the politics and policies of Muslim League are studied in this article. This article poses challenge to the claims which are taken as...

Relations between the federal-provinces have been a subject of political and constitutional de bate since the establishment of Pakistan in 1947. Pakistan, which is divided into four provinces, has been dominated by Punjab, the largest o f four provinces, by predominant membership in the bu reaucracy and army. The other three units have shown their discontent over the allocation o f powers between the federal government and the provinces and raised their voice for more autonomy and political safeguards. The praetorian character of Pakistan with the army ruling the country for most of the period has added to the problems of federalism.

Pakistan is a federal state having four provinces. Punjab is the largest province of the country with regard to population diversity. The ethno-regional, socioeconomic , linguistic and institutional diversity in this region is bifurcated. The province is ethno-regionally and linguistically divided; socioeconomically gulfed and institutionally marginalized. This unequal and marginalized development in the past led to the spectrum of intra-regional movement for making of new provinces in Punjab. The intra-regional movements are based on ethnic lines supported by the regional political parties. Political elites in the mainstream political parties advocate/advocating administrative, institutional, bureaucratic as well as ethnic baseline for making of new provinces in the province of Punjab. Based on the historical trends, this paper will address the constitutional, administrative, political, socioeconomic , ethno-linguistic and institutional baselines for making of new provinces in Punjab. This restructuring will affect the federation of Pakistan in constitutional, administrative and institutional way. It will also study the implications of restructuring of Punjab on federal structure of Pakistan. This paper will be an important document for further policymaking in this realm.

TIJ's Research Journal of Social Science & Management - RJSSM, 2017

This paper focuses on the factors which have been responsible for weakening the center-provinces relations between East and West Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. This issue could be traced back to the Colonial rule in India. The Muslims of undivided India made great efforts for the attainment of a separate Muslim state under the dynamic leadership of M.A. Jinnah. During this political struggle, the Muslims of India worked united but after the establishment of Pakistan, the feelings of regionalism started prevailing. They were divided into groups and held different views on the distribution and division of power. The paper explores the origins of center-provinces relationship in the pre-partition era and also discusses the use of power by the center against the provinces thus causing center-provinces tussle since the very inception of Pakistan.

On Thursday, the Scottish people will decide their political future, after an agreement between Westminster and Edinburgh for a referendum on succession from the union. This moment in history offers and important for the UK to also consider its obligations towards democracy in its previous colonies. Why after winning freedom in the wake of Second World War, are the previous British colonies in Asia still yearning for the real freedoms, development, peace and human security? The answer can be found in the design and methods of colonial rule, as well as Britain's departure strategy from the colonies after 1945. A number of states of the former British Empire are in the limelight today, with conflicts, violence and wars commonplace. While the Iraq and the Middle East may have dominated the headlines over the previous three decades, the division of the Indian subcontinent has arguably had a greater impact on regional politics. Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan and Bangladesh have undergone several waves of conflicts, violence, militarization, civil rights violations and crimes against humanity in the post-colonial era, with only mainland India avoiding broader instability in the region. Pakistan in particular demonstrates the inappropriate, unrealistic and unjustified designs of colonial Britain, which have resulted into the broader insecurity for the tens of millions Sindhi, Baloch and Pashtun. Division of India and the creation of Pakistan The historical record notes that Pakistan was created on the line of so-called two-nation theory based on Indian Hindu and Muslim nationhood, despite the rejection of the idea by the provinces of Sindh, NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhawa – KPK), and Siraiki speaking people of Southern Punjab that together form roughly ninety percent of geography and seventy percent of the population of Pakistan. The founding political party of Pakistan, the All India Muslim League (AIML), never won elections in British India in Sindh and the KPK and did not win contested elections in Balochistan. It was only East Bengal (now Bangladesh), where the AIML was founded in 1906, that the party won elections in 1946. If the composition of AIML's Central Working Committee (CWC) is reviewed, one finds that it only included one Sindhi leader, M. A. Jinnah. The rest of AIML's leadership was from Northern India, especially from the pre-partition United Provinces (UP) that today form the Utter Pradesh, Bihar and Uttarakhand; Delhi, Punjab (today Indian Punjab), the

Pakistan Journal of International Affairs, 2021

Diverse societies have no option except federalism for the integration and harmony of conflicting ideas of ethnic nationalities. A best suited system of state affairs that devolved the powers constitutionally among the constituent unit is called federalism. In 1947 existing provinces formed the federation of Pakistan with the hope that the provinces will be provided maximum autonomy with democratic norms in the country. Unfortunately after the very few years of the forming of a new federation, democratic process was halted and dictatorship was enforced in the state. Army directly or indirectly remained involved in the matters of government and dictatorship regimes introduced authoritative policies. The main focus of every authoritative regime was on the centralization of powers and on making such decisions which were not in the favor of the state. During the eras of Ayub and Yahya khan such policies were adopted that ruined the confidence between East and West Pakistan which resulte...