New Constitution for Pakistan

New Constitution for Pakistan

(The purpose of this article is to generate a healthy debate about a stable and progressive Paksitan)

Parliamentary system in Pakistan is based on the concept of coordination of power between the legislatures (National Assembly) and the executive (Prime Minister and his cabinet). This system is different from the presidential system which is based on the separation of power. Moreover, the constitution ensures a bicameral legislature (two houses of the parliament i.e. National Assembly and Senate). The senate is called upper house of the parliament because it is equally represented by the provinces and any legislation (mostly major legislation such as constitutional amendment) requires two third majorities by the senate as well.  Currently, budget is only passed by the National Assembly which is not good. It should also have be passed by the senate to give more autonomy and say to the provinces in financial matters.

Now, in Pakistan the flaw does not lie in the existing democratic practices. The same system works well in UK and India. The problem is that Pakistan has been facing structural problems (constitutional problem) since its inception. The problems further dates backs to the British support for the creation of Pakistan at the expense of suppressing indigenous voices such as those of Pashtuns. I don’t want to go into the details of the history. What is done is done. I simply want to tell you that Pakistan has been facing structural problems which include giving superior powers to only Muhajir and Punjabis (to be more specific Muhajir and Punjabi civil and military bureaucracy). That was why Bangladesh was separated from Pakistan due to the excesses of the civil and military bureaucracy, Punjabi politicians as well as intelligentsia.

The 1973 constitution was also not signed by the Baluchs and Pakhtuns were divided into three administrative units. As per ethnic distribution of the country Pashtuns should have their own province but that was  how their strength was divided.

The constitution of Pakistan has been consistently tarnished by military and controlled democracies to suit their anti-India and pro-capitalist foreign policy which gave them strength at the expense of poverty and problems for the whole population. From the objective resolution onwards attempts have been made to make Pakistan a theocratic state and Zia regime was the culmination of this Deobandi/Wahabi Islamic state.

Solution: This existing constitutional arrangement and structural setup of the country is rotten. The procedure you suggested should better be adopted for the formation of a Constituent Assembly with the single task of framing a new constitution for Pakistan based on the principal of federalism, liberal democracy and pluralism. 

The constitution should recognize India and Afghanistan as neighbor and should encourage confederating merger with both India and Afghanistan (close neighbors) like the European Union. From a Pakhtun Perspective, a single Pakhtun province stretching from Chitral to Bolan should be formed with maximum provincial autonomy. The constitution should also encourage decentralization of administration and resources to the districts and tehsils level through Local Body Setup.