Takht Lahore and Saraiki Waseb – by Zulfiqar Ali: The Commission about formation of new provinces within Punjab reinvigorated the debate. Just few months ago PML (N) initiated and Punjab assembly unanimously passed the resolution asking for creation of south Punjab and rehabilitation of Bahawalpur as province. PML

Pakistan’s Provinces Pandora’s Box – By Niaz Murtaza:   Does Pakistan need more provinces and if so should they be formed ethnically or administratively? These vexing questions are taxing the wits of perplexed Pakistani policy-makers today. A quick glance across Pakistan reveals several anomalies and misbalances. Punjab

Politics of recognition -by Mushtaq Gaadi: OF all the claims for the creation of new provinces, that of the Seraiki demand has the most potentially constructive consequences for state, democracy and federalism in Pakistan. If and when a Seraiki province is carved out of Punjab

Why Fata cannot be a province – by Ali Begum: CHANGE is inevitable and it has to come in Fata. The area has to be brought into the national mainstream. While the FCR in the NWFP and Balochistan was replaced with the Act of 1935 in one go, the

A Pakistani renaissance -By Mian Raza Rabbani: The 1973 Constitution given by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was democratic, federal and parliamentary. It had a vision of Federalism in terms of fiscal devolution, ownership of resources, participation in policy formation and collective decision making. This was a

Call for the senate reforms in Pakistan: All federations agree that federal system should be comprised of two houses of parliament; National Assembly, based on population; one citizen one vote, and other is the Senate based on territories of the states. The bicameral legislature is of

Scope of constitutional provisions and space for provincial autonomy: The Civic Education Network Pakistan organized a learning event; Constitutional Literacy Campaign, “Scope of Constitutional Provisions and Space for Provincial Autonomy” in Lahore on July 31, 2011. The 18th Amendment and the 7th National Finance Commission(NFC) Award have signficantly

Raza Rabbani: A National Hero, by Dr.Fouzia Saeed: Senator Raza Rabbani One has mostly seen political leaders falling in the eyes of public, especially in this time and age where media puts the spotlight on too many undesirable aspects. Scandals of all sorts get attributed to them;

Objectives of Pakistani Conspiracy Theorists – by Anas Abbas: Objective 1. To denigrate Baluchistan’s resistance movements and to present a picture where the blame of all Baluch sufferings go to foreign elements even though the real culprits are the Punjabi elite and the Pakistan army for their military

26th August: Remembering Nawab Akbar Bugti: No single date left such a lasting impression on the society and politics of Balochistan like August 26th, 2006. It was, no doubt, “Balochistan’s 9/11”  when the province’s former governor and elected chief minister Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti

Reconstitution of CCI: Last year President Asif Ali Zardari  reconstituted the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on the advice of Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani under Article 153 of the Constitution. The President named Prime Minister Gilani as Chairman of the

Provincialism in Quaid’s Pakistan? – by Tasbih Fayaz: Unfortunately, our country has gone through loads of rampant corruption, nepotism and maladministration. Such curses always lead to complete breakdown of law and order in the state. Pakistan is undoubtedly the second largest Muslim nation in the world, yet,

Democracy in Pakistan: the chasm – by Haris Gazdar: Source Economic and political weekly (With thanks to reader Hussain Bux Mallah for providing a link to this article) With the passing of the 18th constitutional amendment in April 2010, democratic Pakistan’s journey for political stability came within leaping

Thousands of Pukhtuns celebrate the 18th Amendment and provincial autonomy in Clifton, Karachi: From Ali Abbas Inayatullah’s facebook: While Pakistan’s bourgeouise “intelligensia” often falsely paints the Taliban as being part of “Pushtoon Nationalism”, nothing could be further from the truth! After sacrifizing thousands of lives for opposing the Taliban and loosing scores

Make new provinces only on administrative grounds?: By Abdul Nishapuri Source: Saraiki Waseb Development Organization (SWADO) In today’s The News, I read an interesting article on the possibility of new provinces by Saleem Safi. It seems that after months and years of effectively campaigning for the

Unrest among Sindhis on 18th amendment: HYDERABAD: A group of civil society leaders has made quite a critical evaluation of 18th constitutional amendment bill and said that Sindh remained the major loser once again because neither the issue of provincial autonomy nor of natural resources

Pakistani democracy delivers — by Wajid Shamsul Hasan: Why Pakistan needs strong institutions is amply demonstrated in recent events of monumental importance. However, these events did not get enough attention either because of indifference from analysts or their lack of comprehension about these issues. It is a

More Provinces debate…: Dangerous games Dawn Editorial Friday, 16 Apr, 2010 Tempers in Hazara appear to be cooling after several days of violence. A general strike was called off recently, businesses are reopening and leading politicians have visited the area, ostensibly to

In defence of the ANP and Kyber Pakhtunkhwa – by Hamid Mir: آئیے ذرا آج اپنے گریبان میں جھانکتے ہیں۔ کیا یہ درست نہیں کہ ہم میں سے اکثر لوگوں نے خود کو مفتیان کرام اور سپریم کورٹ کے ججوں کی جگہ پر فائز کر رکھا ہے؟ جی ہاں مفتیاں کرام

Forecast of an imminent unrest – by Nadeem Khan: There is a real civil unrest on the horizon. We can verify the timings, immediately after the passing of 18th amendment. When the celebrations were about to take the second turn, instead we saw rallies and protests on power

The 18th amendment and the concurrent list! – by Cyril Almeida: It seems that the fear of a big, powerful, overreaching federal government has driven political parties from the smaller provinces to do the only thing that seems obvious: cut its powers. ISLAMABAD: Bye-bye concurrent list, we never even got

Balochistan: Pakistan’s broken mirror – by Madiha Tahir: Source: The National – via Raza Rumi Baloch children hold up nationalist posters. Photographs by Asim Hafeez for The National Islamabad’s brutal attempts to crush ethnic Baloch nationalism have met with fierce, escalating resistance – and have laid bare the

Nawaz Sharif ne apna zameer baich diya – by Ahsan Abbas Shah: نواز شریف نے اپنا ضمیر بیچ دِیا سید احسن عباس رضوی

Provincial autonomy, myths and reality – by Asif Ezdi: Part I The News, March 22, 2010 The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reform is reported to be very close to completing its task and is expected to submit its report later this week. This news has been widely welcomed

Shahbaz Sharif’s Taliban entreaties — by Zafar Hilaly: We can be sure that when the Taliban do not respond positively to his entreaties, Mr Sharif will not blame the Taliban, or fate, but Musharraf, the PPP, the MQM, the Americans, the Indians, the British, the Nigerians, the

Talibangate and Sharifs’ old tricks – by Cyril Almeida: Shahbaz Sharif was saying, I get it, God, country and family is my motto, too. I feel your pain. Support me and I’ll take care of you. –Photo by AP Shahbaz Sharif’s boo-boo had everyone up in arms. Even

Assessing Zardari: On November 22 2008, Zardari, addressing the Hindustan Times leadership summit, talked of reconciliation and promised a no-first use nuclear policy – the first time any Pakistani head of state has done so. He said, in response to a

The NFC Award – Aik Lohar Ki: Here are a few op-eds on the historical NFC Award, a landmark achievement of the democratic government in Pakistan. The op-eds are by: Dr Ashfaque Khan, Nazir Naji and Saleem Safi.