The Great Provincial Divide Asif Ameer

January 12th, 2012 There have been recent talks about creating a new Province for better administration for the Saraikispeaking citizens. Apparently, dividing citizens of a country based on language would serve better administrative purpose. Lets accept this argument for the sake of simplicity and step back into the time when Pakistan was created. There were Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and the NWFP. All provinces based on race and language. Sixty-five years have passed since the creation and Pakistan has yet to reconcile its racial identity. Has the Government not learnt anything?

It absolutely has. Politicians are born with the instincts to rule, no-matter what the cost. Divide and rule - always comes in handy. If a Government, which thrives on feudalism, can divide on race/language for 65 years, theres no better way to expand the already proven policy of divide and rule. If the Government is truly interested in addressing administration efficiencies and want to unite Pakistan, heres the solution to address both these issues within the same policy framework. Consolidate all four language based provinces under the Federal Charter. Divide all the land in Pakistan into 1 square mile grids. Now simply add up the grids till the population headcount reaches 100,000. Make that collection of grids, with 100,000 headcounts, a municipality. Each municipality should have its own Court, Police/School/Water/Fire Department and a Sales tax code for revenue generation to fund services to its citizens. The municipalities would hold their own elections and those elected officials would in that way be available to the needs and concerns of the citizens of those municipalities. This same municipality would also tie into the Federal Voting process. No longer would a Federal Government be responsible for keeping a count of all the citizens in the whole country. Every municipality would be responsible for keeping a track on headcounts within its municipality. This is one example of the many practical solutions available to Pakistan. The problem isnt the lack of solutions. The problem is the lack of trust in Leadership and the political capital. Its not enough to elect a leader with a vision but to stay focused and remained involved. Most of the times, its the voters that turn against the very leader they have elected because too many voters benefit from the existing system in place. If Western countries can absorb immigrants of all different backgrounds, why does Pakistan seem to have a problem consolidating identity in its citizens? As long as the Pakistani identity remains divided, reforms in education, economy and healthcare are pointless. Pakistani Citizens should demand these mandates from their elected representatives. Teachers should teach their students of ideas beyond what the syllabus covers. Maybe not today, put lets plan for tomorrow, if we want to see a tomorrow.
Asif Ameer trades equities, bonds and derivatives in the International Market. He can be reached via Twitter @AsifAmeer_AP