Strengthening federal polity against internal intrusion

The vulnerability of a federal polity against the thrust of internal diversity is a phenomenon that is world wide. Even a seemingly durable federation such as that of Canada has been rocked by the Quebec-based incremental French diversity over the past few decades. Hence it shouldn't be too surprising if the Pakistani polity is today plagued by internal diversities. Even so, the thrust of diversity wouldn't have assumed such gigantic proportions had Pakistani rulers attempted periodically, on a continuing basis, to resolve the diversity-based challenges, process and channelize the demands and grievances underlying them, and formulate policy outputs to resolve them, thereby balancing unity with diversity.
Both India and Pakistan had started their existential career as federal as well as centralised states, being governed by the Government of India Act, 1935 (as adapted) till the promulgation of their respective constitutions. But some seventy years down the road, they have developed along different, indeed divergent, paths. Since the Indian constitution was promulgated on January 26, 1951, India has been able to develop a centre - ie, the federal polity - that holds it together, even strengthens it and this chiefly for the outworking of two factors. For one thing, it has been able to control the narrative which determines the core aspects of the state's identity. And her identity has been internalised to a point that its core attributes are not, never disputed. Thus federal bargain, as originally conceived, is irretrievably entrenched in the people's consciousness. For another, the centre has periodically recognized and accommodated diversities, both vertical and horizontal, except in Occupied Kashmir.
Soon after the enforcement of the constitution in 1951, New Delhi was confronted with a vertical diversity: the demand for linguistic provinces. The Punjab and Bombay were problematical, but Nehru had to bow before long and he finally did bow to the persistence of the demand and got them bifurcated. And the process of creating new provinces is still going on - for instance, Jharkand, Mizoram, etc.
Horizontal diversity, as represented by split mandates, has as well plagued New Delhi since the rise of a Marxist regime in Kerala in 1957. In a fit of fury and frustration, Nehru had it dismissed, but had to retract later. Since then accommodation on political diversity became a rule, rather than an exception, in the evolving Indian political system. Again, it was political accommodation that had won over in 1962 the Tamil Nadu's DMK/AIDMK, which was burning the Indian flag and the Indian constitution throughout the 1950s.
In contrast Pakistan has failed to control the meta-narrative and get the core values/aspects of her identity internalised in the people's consciousness. Some of the core values of the 1956 constitution and most of those of the 1962 constitution were in dispute and lack of the recognition and accommodation of the out-groups' demands had played havoc, leading united Pakistan finally to such a sticky end in 1971.
That sticky end, compounded by the euphoria generated by the success of the Bangladesh venture, obviously provided a ballast to centripetal forces in the post-1971 (residue) Pakistan. But, fortuitously, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was there, at the helm of affairs, and he saw to it that the regionalist and separatist forces had their outstretched wings clipped and that the federal polity is sustained and strengthened beyond measure, especially by the crafting of the 1973 constitution by consensus. He also initiated a series of measures which strengthened the federation and crystallized the Pakistani identity. For instance, his deliberate choice to give his State Banquet address in Urdu in Dhaka on June 30, 1974 during his official visit to Bangladesh. In so doing, he was reaffirming the Pakistani symbolism represented by Urdu.
Commonalities strengthening the federal polity, today, forty five years down the road, Pakistan is home to a string of commonalities and a host of diversities - the commonalities which provide a common space for one and all, whether it leaves enough room for diverse cultural practices, and for ethnic identities to exist and develop or not. Briefly stated, these are as follows:
(i) An agreed 1973 constitution which has stood the test of time. Especially after the 18th amendment, which provides for devolution of power to the provinces and more equitable opportunities to the various provincial units.
(ii) The 2009 NFC Award which provides for considerable fiscal autonomy to the provincial units.
(iii) Urdu as the National Language and English as lingua franca for the elite, business and entrepreneur classes. In tandem, Urdu has also served as the link language for the masses - even as Hindi serves in India, though dominant only in two states, does in India Uttar Pradesh and Bihar -, unless we unwittingly opt for a chaotic tower of Babel scenario. Equally important: Urdu's claim and clout are also buttressed by its ubiquity and universality: hence Bhutto called it "a common denominator". Even if all the languages are designated as national languages, we would still need a link language for the masses across the regions it is understood and spoken throughout Pakistan. One major indicator is that the two most outstanding Urdu poets during the past six decades belonged to non-Urdu mother tongued regions. And that would still be Urdu.
(iv) The emergence of two major, though dynastically oriented, political parties - the PPP and the PML - on a national level besides strong sub-national parties within the constituent units especially the MQM, ANP and the JUI-F. MQM's endeavour to shed its linguistic and urban Sindh origins, getting itself transformed incrementally into a Muttahida Qaumi Movement avatar and inducting itself into the mainstream politics, though generally unappreciated and misconstrued, is still a positive development. However, the PPP has failed to accommodate a split mandate in the Punjab. Otherwise, the Governor's House in Lahore wouldn't have been turned into a PPP den and jiyala club since Salmaan Taseer's induction as Governor in April 2008, for some five years till 2013.
(v) Parties from various provinces have been conceded more or less equal opportunities to stake their claim for power at the federal level. Otherwise the Sindh-based PPP wouldn't have not ruled five times, totaling some 13 1/2 out of• 18 years of civilian rule since 1970, and the three top offices wouldn't have been occupied by Sindhis. At another level the presidential office has seen occupants from various provinces except for Balochistan. Most groups and/or territories are accommodated in the federal cabinets and decision-making bodies. The provincial quota in. the services ensure representation of backward or less developed areas in the services. So does the rural-urban quota system in Sindh.
On the other hand the major problems representing the thrust against a viable federal polity are: (i) Ba1ochistan with its demand for full jurisdiction over powers relevant to its ethnic surviva1, economic upliftment and nation building projects, and control over its resources; (ii) Karachi with its mayhem and lawlessness, and the lack of political will on the provincial government's part; (iii) Executive-Judicial confrontation off and on; and (iv) the fault lines in ethnic federalism with the burgeoning demand for new provinces.
Other than long standing tensions, there is a need, at once imperative and immediate, to recognize differences and to respect them while promoting unity, trust and solidarity among citizens and groups. In essence, this means that there is scant need to assimilate or get assimilated into other cultures but to respect them for what they are. Although the endeavour to balance diversity with unity a continuous process, there is a dire need to develop multiple identities. Whatever be one's racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious identity, everyone inhabiting Pakistan is first and foremost a Pakistani, and his Pakistani identity comes first.
(This writer an HEC Distinguished National Professor, has recently
co-edited Unesco's History of Humanity, vol, VI, Part-II and The Jinnah Anthology (3rd edn 2011) and edited In Quest of Jinnah (2007), the only
oral history on Pakistan's founding father)