Troubled Waters

We are running Pakistan as a semi-federation, disregarding the constitutional parameters and imperatives of federal governance. Showing a chronic obsession with strong central governance, we trespass, ignore, and circumvent the political, economic, and constitutional rights and privileges of the federal units to the annoyance of the provincial populations. This compelling chronic obsession has been our Achilles’ heel since the country’s inception. We lost the majority of the country in December 1971 because of controversies over the distribution of economic and financial resources.

We framed a federal constitution and adopted a parliamentary form of government in the remainder of the country. Though the provincial autonomy provided by the 1973 Constitution did not correspond with the powers and privileges enjoyed by states in the contemporary federations in the region and other comparatively developed continents, the political leadership of the smaller provinces, however, accepted it in view of the country’s extraordinary circumstances. The concurrent list of subjects circumvented the powers and privileges of the federating units.

Hence, the central government remained powerful, manipulated the provincial administrations, and sometimes dismissed them without regard for their clear majority in the provincial legislative assemblies. This happened repeatedly in the smaller provinces of Balochistan, KPK, and Sindh. These provinces complained about being ignored in important policymaking decisions impacting their political, economic, financial, and administrative rights and privileges. The nation was jubilant that the unanimously adopted 18th Amendment to the Constitution resolved the issue of provincial autonomy. This jubilation has proved short-lived.

The political and economic usurpers know how to circumvent the new constitutional guarantees against the plunder of the rights of the smaller provinces. Since its adoption in April 2010, the dominant powers that may be and their loyal political collaborators have brazenly infringed constitutional provisions and trespassed the political, economic, financial, and water rights of smaller provinces, circumventing or bypassing the Council of Common Interests. What a saddening shamelessness! We lost the bigger half of the country on the question of provincial autonomy, and we keep playing cat and mouse with the small provinces, taking their loyalty and patriotism for granted.

The mantra of Kalabagh Dam died down in the face of stiff resistance from the lower riparian state of Sindh and KPK leadership. The scheme surfaced soon after the Tarbela and Mangla Dams were completed during the first PPP regime in the Federation under Late Z.A. Bhutto. It kept rebounding throughout the 1980s and 1990s during the dictatorship of General Zia and the civilian rule of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. General Pervez Musharraf also tried to evolve consensus for the construction of the Dam but backed out, realizing the intensity and depth of the resistance from the KPK and Sindh. The foxy engineers of WAPDA, dominated by the bigger federal unit, worked out alternative schemes to camouflage the Kalabagh dam. Thus, the 6-canal scheme to be dug directly from the River Indus was worked out during the Musharraf regime.

Interestingly, the Musharraf regime commenced the digging of four of the six canals - Katchi, Rainee, Jhelum Right Bank, and Thal. The digging of these four canals has been reportedly finished. The remaining two canals (Thar and Cholistan) were added to the scheme later, along with two water reservoirs on the Chenab River at Mid Ranjha and Chiniot and two on the Sutlej River at Bahawalnagar and Hasilpur with a command area of over 6 million acres of land of the Cholistan desert which would form a part of the Green Pakistan Initiative. The paperwork of the added irrigation scheme consisting of two canals and two dams has been completed by every loyal WAPDA and funds allocated by the Punjab government. The Indus Water Basin Treaty handed the Sutlej River to India. There is some availability of water in the river during flood seasons. Thus, water availability from the Sutlej River will remain erratic and unreliable. The scheme would not remain dependent on the erratic waters of Sutlej.