A chain is as strong as its weakest link. Similarly, a federation is as strong as its federating units. However, if federating units (Provinces) are not given their due share in resources or are not represented adequately at the center, the repercussions can be dire including a growing sense of alienation among the people of that province.
It has been observed in Pakistan that political parties which make it to the echelons of power after garnering votes from all four provinces are more likely to look after the concerns of smaller provinces including their representation at the center. Until the 1990s the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was renowned as a party of the entire federation, as it had its power base in all the provinces but now PPP has been relegated to the position of a provincial party.
While Pakistan Muslim League-N (PMLN) always concentrated on the single largest province of Punjab as it provided them with enough seats to make a government in the center. Hence, providing leverage to smaller provinces at the center was the of their concerns.
But now there is a new party that has leastemerged on the horizon and has successfully bagged seats from all provinces. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has proved to its critics that it indeed is the party of federation and does not represent people from only one province. Moreover, Prime Minister Imran Khan has also vowed that smaller provinces will be given attention they deserve.
If we looked at the composition of the federal cabinet we shall find only one minister from Balochistan; Mrs Zubaida Jalal. In the case of Sindh previously only one minister; Mrs Fehmida Mirza was included in the cabinet, but later the Prime Minister realised that having one minister from rural areas of the second largest province which has approximately a 50 million population was not a justified move. So a second Federal Minister Mr. Ali Muhammad Mahar was also included in the federal cabinet recently. However, PTI needs to realise that more representation is expected from backward regions in the future as it will instill confidence in the people of these areas.
Similarly, the situation is equally abysmal when it comes to bureaucracy. One can hardly find a single Federal Secretary from Balochistan. This reeks of the narrative, that representation of smaller provinces in Federal Government is also not in accordance with the quota allocated to each federating unit. According to the Statistical Bulletin about employees of the Federal Government 2016, and 2017, by the Establishment Division; 171,237 posts are lying vacant in Federal Government and the majority of these positions belong to smaller provinces like Balochistan, Sindh, Former FATA region and Gilgit-Baltistan.
To further add insult to injury the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) illegally changed the qualifying criteria of CSS exam since 2013. The mentioned change affected the number candidates who passed backward regions adversely. In the last result of the CSS only 5 passed the exam against 52 available seats from Balochistan, 16 candidates from Sindh(R) passed the exam against 64 vacancies, 34 passed the exam against 58 vacancies from KPK and 11 passed the exam against 32 available seats from GB/FATA. Furthermore, rather than rectifying the illegal change and passing those candidates who were affected by the illegal changes, FPSC sought an ex-post facto (backdated) approval from the previous cabinet. Thus getting a green signal to implicitly bypass the quota system. The present government should declare that ex-post facto ordinance as null and void ab-initio, so that seats of smaller provinces can be filled back.
It is note worthy that certain quarters are of the opinion that the quota system should be done away with. The premise behind their argument is that if people belonging to backward regions are not at par with those of developed areas then they should not be recruited in Federal Government. This notion can comfortably be controverted by the fact that candidates belonging to these regions do not have the educational facilities and institutions at par with institutions in urban areas.
Through the eighteenth amendment in 2010, the sectors of health and education have been handed over to the provinces and they are responsible for turning moribund sectors into functioning ones. However, 60 years of negligence cannot be rectified in a single decade. Moreover, the purpose of having quota system transcends the idea of giving leverage to people from backward regions in competitions. The quota system is more about giving due representation to different ethnicities as per their population, which is a prerequisite for a strong and stable federation.
The events that led up to the partition of Bangladesh and Pakistan, have not been forgotten. Seeds of heart wrenching discrimination were sowed, and germinated on the beds of inequality; as East Pakistan was not given their due share in the government or other state employments. Pakistan cited that India took advantage of the situation through Machiavellian maneuverings. Such events serve as a clarion call for generations to come and we have also learned our lesson the hard way.
It is never too late to correct our path, the new government has stepped-in to run the country and with more power comes more responsibility. It is high time that initiatives are taken which can prove to be building blocks for a strong federation. The members of the cabinet from smaller provinces should voice the issues, people of their provinces face. It is their foremost duty to make sure the Prime Minister and the Federal government, give due share to previously discriminated provinces.
The writer is a freelance columnist
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