18th amendment: A case for Provincial Autonomy

Background:
 Demand for Provincial autonomy in Jinnah’s 14 points

 Lahore Resolution and cry for Provincial autonomy

 Sheikh Mujib’s six points and Plea for Provincial autonomy

 Musical Chair Politics – 90’s era and Demand for Provincial autonomy

 Charter of Democracy (May 14, 2006) (Provincial Autonomy: Provincial autonomy is defined as
the capacity of the provinces to make relatively independent decisions while remaining within a
federation.) History of 18th amendment:

 20 Sept 2008 President Zardari calls for the formation of committee  Parliamentary Committee
on Constitutional Reforms  Total Members: 27  Chairman: Razza Rabbani  Total sessions: 77 
8 April 2010 National Assembly  15 April 2010 Senate

 19 April 2010 Receives Presidential Assent Key Aspects:  Altered 1/3rd of the constitution 
Amended 102 Articles  Rewritten the federal-provincial pact

“The most Comprehensive restructuring of the federal and provincial administration since 1947”
Senator Raza Rabbani

“New Constitutional Software of Pakistan” Dr. Saeed Shafqat

“Refurbished the hardware of the statecraft” Zahid Hussain

Merits of 18th Amendment

1. Guarantees Fundamental Democratic Rights by inserting new articles:
10A Right to Fair Trial “For the determination of his civil rights and obligations or in any
criminal charge against him a person shall be entitled to a fair trial and due process

19A Right to Information “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in
all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed
by law."
25A Right to Education “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all
children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law."
A) REDRESSEL OF MINORITY RIGHTS
1-one member of minoriy from each province in senate
2-Sub clause in 38(A) quota in federal service

2. Promotes Democracy by ensuring provincial autonomy:

Making Provinces self-sufficient by providing them financial autonomy Changes in Revenue
Sharing formula (NFC 160) 7 th NFC Award - Vertical Distribution 42.5% to Centre and 57.5%
Provinces
 Clause 3(a) guarantees that Share of provinces will not be reduced
"(3A) The share of the Provinces in each Award of National Finance Commission shall not be
less than the share given to the Provinces in the previous Award.”

(NFC – National Finance Commission, According to Article 160(1), Presidents shall constitute
a commission to devise revenue sharing formula between the Centre and Provinces. After 7
th NFC award, Vertical Distribution: 42.5% to Centre and 57.5 % to Provinces. Horizontal
Distribution Indicators- Population 82%, Poverty and Backwardness 10.3 %, Revenue
Generation and Collection 5 %, Inverse Population Density 2.7%. Share of Provinces:
Punjab 51.74% Sindh 24.55% KP 14.62 % Bal 9.09%) before this in 1991 ; Punjab ; 60.25 pc ,
Sindh 22.5 pc , kp 13.9pc and balochistan 3.86pc

Delegating power to provinces to Borrow loans on their own Inserting clause 4 in Article 167
“A Province may raise domestic or international loan
COMPARING WITH INDIA
Population= 0.25 pc
Income distance method = 0.50 pc
Area =0.10 pc
tax effort = 0.075
fiscal discipline= 0.075

3. Gives autonomy to Provinces by assigning Decision Making Roles:

Devolving 46 Subjects and 17 Ministries to Federating units. Main Subjects include

 Education (school-Higher)  Health  Youth Affairs  Tourism  Local Government

4. Paving way for effective development strategy;

Sifting from “federally planned and provincially executed” system of development to the
policy of local solution for local problems:

“Provinces are no more only the implementation arms of the centralized policies. Now they
have rights and space and they won’t be able to blame Islamabad.” --- ANP Member

5. Providing due share to the federating units by guaranteeing Joint and Equal Ownership of
natural Resources:
Inserting new clause in Article 172 (3)( Subject to the existing commitments and obligations,
mineral oil and natural gas within the Province or the territorial waters adjacent thereto
shall vest jointly and equally in that Province and the Federal Government.)

6. Ensures greater accountability by demarcating functional roles of Central Govt and

Peripheries:

With the new constitutional order, both policy determination and service delivery
responsibilities have been concentrated at the provincial level. This makes it clearer to
 citizens which order of government to hold to account for dysfunctional service delivery as
the buck now clearly stops at the provincial chief minister’s doorstep.

7. Encouraging People-oriented governance by pushing Governments closer to the people:

Moving from Centralized governance mechanism to the multi-governance order. Inserting

Article 140A

8. Promoting democratic tradition of consensus based decision making for national issues:

Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner Article 213

9. Limiting Military adventurism by removing dictatorial tendencies:

Removing the infamous Article 58-2(b) instituted by President Musharraf, which granted
the power to unilaterally dismiss parliament under vague emergency provisions.
Article 6 High Treason

10. Provides voice to the Provinces in National Policy Formulation:

Council of Common Interests (Article 153-154) Addition of new clause: Council shall meet
every 90 Days. Provinces can propose the agenda

Pitfalls and Risks of 18th Amendment:

1. 18th amendment: created Function-Finance-Imbalance:
2. Made Federal Government a Toothless Tiger: Inability of Centre to Harmonize finance
Sharing as per the needs of New problems:
3. Devolution of Responsibility way more than the ability of Federating Units :
4. Lack of Functional capacity of the federating units and new functional roles especially in
debt servicing
5. Joint and Equal ownership of natural resources: a breeding ground for contention:
especially royalty issues which may exacerbate after CPEC completion
6. Potential for confusing and contradictory regulatory standards with High transaction
costs for business and citizens:
7. 18th amendment- a roadblock to tax reform
8. Increased risks to macro-stability with provincial government Ownership of financial
institutions:
9. Federal government’s lack of access to financing instruments to Secure a common
economic union

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