Former states, future provinces

About a hundred heavily armed Taliban drive 200 kilometres, attack the Dera Ismail Khan jail, free around 250 of the prisoners and drive back to base. More than 50 bandits storm 22 police pickets in Rajanpur, Punjab. After a failed operation the police and the bandits reach a ceasefire and indulge in negotiations for the release of people from both sides.

A child is killed and nine passengers are injured when a powerful blast on the outskirts of Karachi derails the Shalimar Express. In less than two weeks another train Khushhal Khan Khattak Express is derailed by a blast killing eight people including four children. People are target killed daily in Karachi and in Larkana people prefer staying indoors after dark for fear of dacoits.

These are just routine samples of daily news from all over the country. The Taliban, separatist insurgents in Balochistan and Sindh, criminal gangs in Karachi, dacoits in Larkana and Rajanpur, extortion and land mafias everywhere etc are the manifestation of the collapse of the state’s writ. Since the 1970s the state is on a slippery course of power decline.

Corruption and impunity from law and punishment for powerful individuals and institutes are the two key reasons behind the weakening of the state. The third aspect is the constant decay of our provincial administration. Provinces have become too cumbersome to manage themselves. In 1947 the population was around 32.5 million, in 2014 the numbers have soared close to 200 million while the provinces remain the same.

This sixth most populous country in the world needs smaller, more manageable provinces to survive but both mainstream and nationalist parties seem against the idea apparently because of their myopic interests.

In this modern age of grassroots civic management and shift of a majority of the population from rural to urban areas these mainstream parties are trying to ‘rule’ cities some of which are as big as 10 and 20 million plus populations. They try to rule through deputy commissioners and municipalities instead of giving them the right to have their own powerful city governments. The prime motive behind their abhorrence for city governments seems to be the desire to keep the development funds and precious city land in their clutches. And expecting these so-called mainstream parties to go for more provinces is expecting against mighty odds.

The supposed nationalist parties have their own dilemmas. The easy way out for them has been to keep their ethnic associations and slogans more sacred than the state and its people and thrive by sensationalising everything into an ethnic context.

Our provinces today are not like what they have been through various phases of history. In early 19th century Punjab was spread from Kashmir, Gilgit and Khyber Pass to modern day Chandigarh and Dera Ghazi Khan areas. Arab geographers, historians and travellers considered the entire area from the Arabian Sea to the range of Kashmir mountains as Sindh. Much of today’s Pakistan was part of the Sindh kingdom in the time of Mohammad bin Qasim.

The objective here is not to delve on the history of provinces but to understand the fact that provinces have gone through an evolutionary phase, shedding size with growing population. That evolution has mostly gone well in India while in Pakistan we have been blocking the way of this natural evolutionary path and reaping the consequences.

New provinces are an administrative need which has been garbled into a matter of ethnic controversies. Sooner or later we will have to have new provinces. The sooner is better and the most practical option could be to restore the former states of Bahawalpur (1802-1955), Khairpur (1775-1955), Swat (1858-1955) and Makran (18th century to 1955) as new provinces.

These states were prosperous and administered well by the state governments. For example people in Khairpur enjoyed free healthcare and education up to matriculation. A railway track was laid and hospitals, dispensaries, schools, college and a university were established by the nawabs in Bahawalpur. There were no ghost schools, crime rate was very low and people lived in peace.

Restoring former states as new provinces would address the supposed misgivings of the opponents of new provinces as these provinces would have undeniable historical and cultural relevance to their people and geography. They would also help us reform and strengthen our overall provincial administrative structures.

Email: moazzamhai@yahoo.com