The Eighteenth

Amendment
Irfan Waheed usmani
Outline
• Introduction
• Background
• Underlying Motives
• Process
• Salient Features
• Positives/ Positive Aspects
• Critical View /Challenges
• Analysis
• Suggestions
• Summing up / Conclusion
Introduction

• The almost unanimous passage of a landmark consensus amendment –the eighteenth

constitutional amendment restored Pakistan's constitution to its original intent of a
decentralized federation of provinces
• Re-assertion of civilian supremacy
• Emphasis/ on federal parliamentary character of the constitution
• Major step / advance toward provincial autonomy
• Add the point of view of its critics: their reservations: it has added to administrative
confusion or chaos ; measures of financial and provincial autonomy have posed new
challenges to the viability of financial federalism; the point of view has been expressed by
powerful quarters of establishment
• Have some comments about the situation which is prevailing
• Suspended judgement : notwithstanding the criticism one can construe it as a step in the
right direction
• Background

• S.J Burki's article: p.4 : the anomalies created by the Eighth and the
Seventeenth amendments ; the Eighteenth amendment seeks to
correct that anomalies by restoring power given to parliament under
the 1973 constitution..
• Imran Ahmed: p.2
• The desire of opposition parties to establishment of the tradition of
civilian supremacy and restore the 1973 constitution : briefly allude to
the Charter of Democracy (CoD) : S.J.Burki, p.9
Background (II)
• The amendment has as its source the Charter of Democracy (COD),
signed in London by Benazir Bhutto, chairperson of the PPP, and Mian
Nawaz Sharif, president of his faction of Pakistan Muslim League,
[PML(N)]. The signing took place in 2006 when President Pervez
Musharraf was at the peak of his power and was engaged in creating
circumstances that would help to prolong his tenure. (S.J Burki , p.9)
Underlying Motives
• S.J. Burki's article: pp. 9—10 : the most important objective was to
strengthen parliament as well as provincial assembles

Click to add text

• Process

• In a joint sitting of Parliament on the 20 September 2008, President

Asif Ali Zardari issued a call for the creation of an all parties
committee to revisit the 17th Amendment and Article 58 2(b).
Drafting the 18th Amendment A 27-member Parliamentary
Committee on Constitutional Reforms was se
Process (II)
• A 27-member Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms was set up with the task of effacing the imprint of
authoritarianism from the text of the Constitution and returning the state to a sound, stable and consensual legal
footing.
• The Committee prioritised reforms which would improve transparency in the political system, minimise individual
discretion, strengthen parliament and provincial assemblies, increase provincial autonomy, ensure the independence
of the judiciary, strengthen fundamental rights and promote good governance.
• It sought suggestions and proposals for constitutional reform from its own constituent members, the public at large
and also referred to Private Member’s Bills pertaining to constitutional amendments introduced in the Senate of
Pakistan.
• The Committee also decided that all proceedings would be in-camera and that no press release of its functioning
would be issued unless authorised by the Committee. The objective of this process was to provide its members with
an open, free and frank atmosphere to discuss constitutional matters and make decisions based on expertise rather
than party consideration.
• The Committee met 77 times, revisited all 280 Articles of the Constitution and its deliberations culminated in The
Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 which received the presidential assent on the 19 April 2010.
• In all, 102 Articles of the Constitution were amended, inserted, added, substituted or deleted making it an
unprecedented overhaul of the Constitution.
Process (III): S.J.Burki p.9
• A 28-member Constitutional Reforms Committee was constituted in 2008
under the chairmanship of Raza Rabbani, a PPP member of the national
assembly who had shown the ability to act independently of his party’s
leadership.
• The composition of the committee deviated considerably from the party
composition in the national assembly. Only 13 of its 26 members were
from the four large parties
• The PPP had five members, three each from the two Muslim League
factions and two from the MQM. The remaining 13 belonged to ten
different parties and groups. This composition was meant to provide
confidence to the smaller parties that their wishes would not be ignored
Salient Features(I)
• Concurrent list was abolished 
• Increase in powers of upper house as it can advice in finance bills after 18th
amendment 
• Powers of president’s officeClick
were reduced
to add text 
• Executive powers were constituted in PM and President couldn’t perform
this power  PM can be elected more than two tenures 
• Power of ECP were increased, designation of Chief Election Commissioner
was strengthened  Ensured devolution of power at lower level 
• Strength of cabinet was increased 
• Change in procedure for selection of caretaker govt. 
Salient Features(II)
• Distribution of revenue between center and provinces was streamlined 
• Increase in powers and tenure of Auditor General
•  Provincial assemblies can take emergency decisions regarding their
provinces 
• Streamline the procedure of selection and appointment of judges 
• Some new powers were introduced in federal list through which federal
govt. has upper hand in crucial issues like census and economic
development polices 
• Federal govt. will provide assistance to provinces in different domains like
health, education and finance  Ensured the independence of judiciar
• Re-assertion of two institutions
• Constitutional rearrangement in Pakistan
• The measures aimed at increasing independence of Judiciary
Features from Imran aziz's article

• The Amendment declared that the Legal Framework Order had no legal effect and repealed the 17th
Amendment.
• It restructured the separation of powers placing limits on presidential powers, expanding the role of
Parliament and the Prime Minister,
• The 18th Amendment also sought to deter future violations of the constitutional order proclaiming
that subversion or abrogation of the constitution would be guilty of high treason. It stipulated that an
act of high treason cannot be validated by any court including the Supreme Court or a High Court.

• The 18th Amendment moved to increase the number of fundamental rights in the Constitution by
inserting the right to a fair trial (Article 10A),
• right to information (Article 19A) and right to education (Article 25A).
• Perhaps, most significantly, the 18th Amendment transformed centre-province relations.
Features from Imran aziz's article
pp.4-5
• The 18th Amendment abolished the concurrent list of the 1973 Constitution expanding the
administrative and legislative responsibilities of the provinces in Pakistan.
• The Amendment devolved laws which govern marriage, contracts, the management of infectious and
contagious diseases, labour, educational curriculums, environmental pollution, trade unions and forty
other diverse areas to the provinces.
• It also altered the distribution of resources in order for the provinces to meet the financial burden of
these new transferred responsibilities and reconfigured the inter-provincial revenue distribution
formula which now takes into account the levels of poverty (or backwardness) and inverse population
density of a province.
• It also renamed the North West Frontier Province as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• While the Amendment made significant steps towards expanding the powers of the provinces, it did
not render provincial governments the sole governing authority within their territory.
• The 18th Amendment inserted Article 140A which mandated that each province, by law, must
establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility
and authority to the elected representatives of local governments.
The measures aimed at increasing independence
of Judiciary: assertion of article 175 A
• and altering the process of judicial appointments in the Supreme Court. It returned Pakistan to
a parliamentary system of government.

• The Eighteenth Amendment Act of 2010 had introduced a new Article 175A to the Constitution,
which would provide for a Parliamentary Committee and a Judicial Committee to operate in tandem
to vet nominations to the Higher Judiciary.
• The Court thus undertook to review a constitutional amendment and direct the legislature to
reconsider its ambition to be a part of this process. On the basis of upholding judicial independence,
a principle that was part and parcel of a basic structure doctrine not fully avowed to this point, the
Court under Chaudhry referred the matter back to Parliament for ‘reconsideration’, with
recommendations regarding the changes that need to be introduced to the appointment process
under Article 175A.
• There was more or less a wholesale incorporation of these recommendations in the new Article
175A that was introduced through the Nineteenth Amendment Act in 2011. While the committee
structure still stands, the balance has tipped towards the judicial branch in terms of effective power.
• Re-assertion of two institutions: The
CCI and NEC
• The Council of Common Interests (CII)
• Background The CCI was initially created by the 1956 constitution. It was chaired by the prime minister or by a
federal minister on his/her behalf and comprised equal membership from the provinces and federal
government. The CCI had jurisdiction over the federal legislative list and electricity, and was intended to serve as
a forum to seek provincial input in the conduct of federal responsibilities. It was not, however, required tmeet
periodically, and the federal government chose to make the institution dormant as it had little interest in
provincial views. (not required)
• The 18th Amendment attempts to reinvigorate this institution to deal with all matters relating to the federation.
• The CCI is to be chaired by the prime minister and include four provincial chief ministers and three federal
government nominees as members.
• It will have a permanent secretariat and is required to meet at least once every quarter.
• The CCI has been entrusted with decision making, monitoring, supervision, and control responsibilities over the
Federal Legislative List Part II, which includes the following: railways; minerals, oil, and natural gas; hazardous
materials; industrial policy; electricity; major ports; federal regulatory authorities; national planning and
economic coordination; supervision and management of public debt; censuses; provincial police powers beyond
provincial boundaries; legal matters; regulation of the legal, medical, and other professions; standards in
education and research; interprovincial coordination; and conflict resolution.( which covers …. subjuects)
Re-assertion of two
institutions: NEC
• The National Economic Council is also a constitutional body with
oversight responsibility for national economic policies and has
remained active in the past. Chaired by the prime minister, its
membership previously had been left to the president’s discretion,
provided that at least one member from each province was
represented.
• The 18th Amendment has tilted the balance of power on this council in
favor of the provinces by mandating two members each, including the
chief ministers of each province, and four federal members appointed
by the prime minister.
• The Council must now meet at least once every six months.
Constitutional rearrangement in
Pakistan
• The 18th Amendment has deleted the list of federal/provincial concurrent responsibilities and
reassigned selective functions to the federation to be guided by the CCI and devolved others to the
provinces. The former list consisted primarily of natural resources, electricity, and regulatory
functions (see Table 2).
• The latter encompasses most economic and social services. Table 2 shows that the federal
government has been completely stripped of its responsibilities in planning, industry, agriculture
and rural development, and social services and welfare (including social protection).
• This has resulted in the abolition of 17 ministries—with a combined budget of PKR 49 billion for the
fiscal year (FY) 2011—including the ministries of food and agriculture, education, and health. Table
3 lists these ministries and their FY2011 budgets. These functions have been absorbed on a
selective basis by the provinces in existing departments.
• With the abolition of the ministry of education, Pakistan joins Canada as the only two federal
countries with no ministry of education at the federal level.
• With the abolition of the health ministry, Pakistan assumes a unique status among all federal
countries.
Positives(I)
• (I) –the eighteenth constitutional amendment restored Pakistan's
constitution to its original intent of a decentralized federation of
provinces
• (II) Re-assertion of civilian supremacy
• (III)Emphasis/ on federal parliamentary character of the constitution
• (IV) Major step / advance toward provincial autonomy
• (V) It was a landmark achievement in Pakistan not simply for its
sweeping constitutional reforms, but also for the cooperation it had
garnered across the political spectrum to move Pakistan towards a
federal, parliamentary system of government
Positives/ Positive Aspects

• (II) The composition of the committee deviated considerably from the

party composition in the national assembly. Only 13 of its 26
members were from the four Click tolarge
add textparties

• The PPP had five members, three each from the two Muslim
League factions and two from the MQM. The remaining 13 belonged
to ten different parties and groups. This composition was meant to
provide confidence to the smaller parties that their wishes would not
be ignored
Positives(II)
• (VI) Giving the NWFP a long name may have stalled the move that is
gaining some momentum in the country to create a number of new
provinces to accommodate different linguistic groups. If that move
was to succeed, Pakistan will follow the example of neighboring India
that reorganized the country essentially on linguistic grounds soon
after achieving independence
• (VII) It gas introduced profound changes in the institutions of
intergovernmental coordination. The most significant of these
changes is the reassertion of two institutions of the federalism – the
CCI and the NEC ,which aims to strengthen provincial representation. (
Anwar shah’s article, p.393)
Positives(III)
• (VIII) The strengthening of local governments in the country… (further
details S.J.Burki’s article p.16) there is an empirical evidence to
suggest that a local government generally spends a far larger fraction
of an unconditional grant from a higher level of government than its
citizens would consider to be optimal, p. 16…
• (IX) Decentralization of government’s authority should help in
addressing the problem of the country faces as number of people
living ibn absolute poverty increases, S.J.Burki, p. 17.
(X) The amendment has several provisions to give
more power to the smaller provinces, p.11. Copy
from Burki p.11
Feature from S.J Burki's article<
p.10--12
• (I) The amendment met the long-standing demand of the Pakhtun population of the NWFP
to rename their province by identifying it with the main ethnic group living in the area. The
group would have preferred the province to be named Pakhtunkhawa but this was resisted
by other ethnic groups, in particular the Hindkoh speakers who live in the areas bordering
Punjab.
• A compromise was struck and the province was given the unwieldy, hyphenated name of
KhyberPakhtunkhawa.
• That did not satisfy the Hindkoh speakers. There were riots in the area after the
amendment was passed, leaving several people dead.
• Giving the NWFP a long name may have stalled the move that is gaining some momentum
in the country to create a number of new provinces to accommodate different linguistic
groups. If that move was to succeed, Pakistan will follow the example of neighbouring India
that reorganised the country essentially on linguistic grounds soon after achieving
independence.( NR)
The further curtailment of the
powers of President
• (II) Further limits have been placed on the powers of the president.
Time limits have been fixed for the president to act on the advice
given to him by the prime minister and his cabinet.
• President’s discretionary powers to dissolve the National Assembly or
to refer a matter to referendum have been removed. Referendums
were conducted by both Presidents Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf
to win legitimacy for their rules. In both cases, the results were
massively rigged.
• The president is now to appoint the provincial governors and service
chiefs on the advice of the prime minister which is binding.
The Amendment strengthened the
Article 6 of the Constitution
• [The amendment strengthened Article 6 of the constitution that was
originally inserted to deter military takeovers.] In the original
constitution, any effort to dislodge a duly constituted government was
made a capital offense punishable by death. This did not however
prevent the coups staged by Generals Ziaul Haq in 1977 and Pervez
Musharraf in 1999. In both cases, when challenged, the acts were
given legal cover by the Supreme Court.
• {The amended article expands the definition of high treason by
including in it an act of suspending the constitution or holding it in
abeyance. Further, the Supreme Court or the High Courts cannot
validate assaults on the constitution.
The Provisions/ clauses pertaining to
fundamental rights
• The number of fundamental rights have been increased to include the
right to fair trial, the right to information and the right to education. It
is now compulsory for children between the ages of five to 16 years to
be in schools and for the state to provide them with free education.
Clauses pertaining to Judiciary
• For the appointment of judges – a contentious area that held up the final agreement on the draft for a few
days – the amendment appoints a seven member Judicial Commission headed by the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court. The recommendations of the Commission will be sent to an eight member Parliamentary
Committee with the authority to reject the nomination by no less than 75 per cent majority.
• This section of the amendment has been challenged in the Supreme Court by some members of the legal
community who believe that it will politicise the judicial system and not necessarily make it independent of
executive control.
• The amendment has created a new high court at Islamabad, the federal territory, and has established two
additional benches of the High Courts at Mingora in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa and at Turab in Balochistan.
• (The motives for this were to accommodate the wishes of the people of these two provinces. The Taliban
led rebellion in Swat of which Mingora is the capital was prompted in part by people’s unhappiness with
the time it took the courts to settle disputes and render justice. There is an expectation that by reducing
the physical distance between some of the far-flung areas in some of the more backward provinces and
judicial centers will help to take care of some of the grievances of the people.) NR
Clauses expanding the scope of
Provincial autonomy
• –the most important changes in the constitution relate to the assigning of responsibilities to governments
at different levels.
• The concurrent list in the original document that gave joint responsibilities to the federal as well as
provincial governments has been removed. However, criminal laws, criminal procedures and the rules of
evidence remain subjects on which both Parliament and Provincial Legislatures can make laws.
• The Council of Common Interests (CCI) has been greatly strengthened. It shall now be chaired by the
prime minister and meet at least once a quarter. There will be a permanent secretariat, comprising of the
prime minister, three federal ministers and the four chief ministers. The list of subjects that will fall within
the purview of the CCI has been substantially expanded, including some of the subjects that were on
the the abolished 13 concurrent list.
• Some of the subjects which will now be subject to deliberation by the CCI include major ports; electricity,
presumably all aspect of it including generation, transmission and distribution; all regulatory authorities;
national planning; public debt; census; legal, medical and other professions; higher education; and inter-
provincial matters and coordination.
• The federation will not be allowed to build hydroelectric stations in any province without consultation
with that province.
Clauses aimed at asserting
parliamentary supremacy
• The amendment has removed the sixth schedule to the constitution
that had given protection to 35 laws and ordinances promulgated
during the Musharraf period. These could only be amended with the
consent of the president. Included in these was the Local Government
Ordinance of 2001. This leaves open the question whether the
provinces would continue the systems that were in place as a result of
the 2001 Ordinance.
• However, the provision inserted by the 17th amendment by President
Musharraf relating to the devolution of power to local governments
has been retained and expanded to provide that elections should be
held to local councils by the Election Commission.
Strengthening of Election and
making it autonomous
• An effort has been made to strengthen the Election Commission and make it
autonomous.
• The term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) has been increased
from three to five years and the number of Commissioners has been fixed at five.
• The CEC will be appointed by the president after he has received a binding
recommendation from a committee of the parliament that will include the leader
of the opposition. A panel of three members will be sent to the committee for its
consideration; the committee will select one person from the panel and forward
his (or her) name to the president for appointment.
• The commission’s powers have been expanded to include the preparation of
electoral rolls, holding elections to the seats that fall vacant, appointment of
election tribunals to handle complaints, and staff recruitment.
Number of Provisions Strengthening
Financial autonomy of provinces
• There are a number of provisions pertaining to strengthening the finances of
the provinces.
• (I) They will have the right to raise domestic or foreign loans with the approval
of the National Economic Council, a body chaired by the Prime Minister with
its Secretariat in the Ministry of Finance.
• (II) They will collect the entire amount generated by excise duty on oil and
natural gas.
• (III) Future National Finance Commissions cannot issue awards that reduce the
combined share of the provinces in the central ‘divisible pool’. In other awards,
the amount given to the provinces by the seventh award has been frozen in
time. The only discretion they have is to change the proportions allocated to
the provinces.
Measure to enhance/ increase the control of
party leaders over the elected representatives of
the party
• As a nod to the peculiar political circumstances in Pakistan with the heads of the
three of the four major political parties – the PPP, the PML(N) and the MQM –
not present in the parliament, disqualification of members defection will be
undertaken only on the initiative of the party head and not by the
parliamentary leader. Inserted in the constitution by the 13th amendment to
deal with horse-trading that had marked politics in the 1990s, members of the
assembly who cross the floor may risk losing their seats.
• The new provision means that the absent leaders will be able to rule over their
parties from outside the parliament or the provincial assemblies.
• Also, the clause in the 17th amendment that limited the tenure of the prime
minister to two terms has been removed, thus enabling Nawaz Sharif to once
again aim for that position, which were held twice in the 1990s.
• (III) These provisions, together with the removal of past amendments
added by the military rulers, sought to establish some – at least legal
– boundaries in civil-military relations.
Positives(I)
• (I) –the eighteenth constitutional amendment restored Pakistan's
constitution to its original intent of a decentralized federation of
provinces
• (II) Re-assertion of civilian supremacy
• (III)Emphasis/ on federal parliamentary character of the constitution
• (IV) Major step / advance toward provincial autonomy
• (V) It was a landmark achievement in Pakistan not simply for its
sweeping constitutional reforms, but also for the cooperation it had
garnered across the political spectrum to move Pakistan towards a
federal, parliamentary system of government
Positives(II)
• (VI) Giving the NWFP a long name may have stalled the move that is
gaining some momentum in the country to create a number of new
provinces to accommodate different linguistic groups. If that move
was to succeed, Pakistan will follow the example of neighboring India
that reorganized the country essentially on linguistic grounds soon
after achieving independence
• (VII) It gas introduced profound changes in the institutions of
intergovernmental coordination. The most significant of these
changes is the reassertion of two institutions of the federalism – the
CCI and the NEC ,which aims to strengthen provincial representation. (
Anwar shah’s article, p.393)
Positives(III)
• (VIII) The strengthening of local governments in the country… (further
details S.J.Burki’s article p.16) there is an empirical evidence to
suggest that a local government generally spends a far larger fraction
of an unconditional grant from a higher level of government than its
citizens would consider to be optimal, p. 16…
• (IX) Decentralization of government’s authority should help in
addressing the problem of the country faces as number of people
living ibn absolute poverty increases, S.J.Burki, p. 17.
(X) The amendment has several provisions to give
more power to the smaller provinces, p.11. Copy
from Burki p.11
Ouline
• (I) The critical question about the extent of decentralization in the constitution?
Whether full blown federation is desirable? In actual practices it exists in rarity
because it is somehow inherently unstable
• (II) Will the passage of this amendment ensure Pakatan's move towards making
parliament sovereign and introducing genuine federalism in the country?
• (III) The amendment offers some potential for improving public governance but
also introduces major risks for political and economic union…
• (IV) measures of financial and provincial autonomy have posed new challenges
to the viability of financial federalism; the point of view has been expressed by
powerful quarters of establishment
• (V) Will the provinces have the resources to carry out the mandate?
• Critical View /Challenges

• (I) The critical question about the extent of decentralization in the

constitution? Whether full blown federation is desirable? In actual
practices it exists in rarity because it is somehow inherently unstable .
When chosen , it fails to survive not because of any difficulty in the
outcome it produces , but because of the existence of forces in a
democracy which undermines it. S.J. Burki
Further explanation of the first
criticism through cards
Further explanation of the first
criticism through cards(II)
Further explanation of the first
criticism through cards(III)
(II) Another critical question
• (II) Will the passage of this amendment ensure Pakatan's move
towards making parliament sovereign and introducing genuine
federalism in the country? Only time answer this question. ( S.J. Burki)
(III) Anwar Shah’s article
• The amendment offers some potential for improving public
governance but also introduces major risks for political and economic
union… (Anwar Shah’s article)
• Add the point of view of its critics: their reservations: it has added to
administrative confusion or chaos ; measures of financial and
provincial autonomy have posed new challenges to the viability of
financial federalism; the point of view has been expressed by
powerful quarters of establishment
(iv) Critical questions pertaining to
devolution of responsibilities
• Will the provinces have the resources to carry out the mandate? The
devolution of responsibility should be coupled with the responsibility
of raising sources that according to Burki is the real test of the new
system, p.17
(V) The administrative confusion it
has created in the education sector:
HEC Provincial HEC Provincial Higher Only two provinces Overlapping of
education Punjab and Sindh powers
Departments have established
provincial higher
education
commissions
QEC’s in universities
(VI) Without improving the quality of governance in
the provinces the promise of the amendment cannot
be realized
• The country is faced with serious crisis at provincial level…
(VII)To what extent the amendment has been able to address
persisting disparities and deprivations of the smaller provinces? To
what extent it has been able to pacify the ethic tensions within the
nation? Saadia Shahbaz and Karim Khan
• The first big difference these changes made was the increased availability of
resources to provinces other than Punjab. However, on ground, the pre-existing
disparities seem to be consistent.
• …. that social exclusion is highest among Balochi, Saraiki and Sindhi rural
households. This means that these ethnicities experience higher deprivation in
material assets, education, and access to financial resources, health services, and food
security, as compared to Punjabi, Pashtun and Hazarawal communities.
• This depicts that the relative deprivation is not only geographical in nature but also
deprives certain ethnicities disproportionately.
• Therefore, one can conclude that relative deprivation that formed the basis for ethnic
strife and secession movements in the past seem to be persisting and while a step in
the right direction, the 18th Amendment so far has been insufficiently effective in
reducing the existing inequalities.
Explanation
• The inequalities in human development remain stark.
• The SBP’s annual report (2018-19) posits that Sindh and Balochistan remain relatively
more food insecure. The level of access to social programmes also remains unequal
with Balochistan (0.3% of the population) being in distinct disadvantage, when
compared with Sindh and K-P. Balochistan also reports the highest number of children
who missed essential vaccination while Gilgit-Baltistan reported 100% coverage.
• A 2018 study carried out by researchers from the University of Maryland in
collaboration with USAID also confirms this asymmetry in health outcomes. This
asymmetry exists despite increased growth in the current expenditures especially in
Punjab and Balochistan. However, the share of development expenditure remains the
lowest in Balochistan. This brings us to the issue of capacity of the provinces in
utilising the increased resources effectively and exercising the new “relative”
autonomy to address issues of regional significance.
• A 2015 report of the Institute of Policy Reforms (IPR) shows that while the
contribution to the country’s economy of Sindh and K-P has increased since
1999-2000, it had actually declined for Balochistan. In comparison of the
regime-wise growth analysis of the provinces, Dr Hafeez Pasha pointed out
that K-P has shown impressive growth rates since 2008, while Punjab has
remained consistent. The same report points out the persistence of
Balochistan’s dismal economic performance and the deterioration of
performance by Sindh since 2008.
• A 2019 World Bank report on poverty in Pakistan corroborates this
outcome, with K-P showing significant decline in poverty since 2010, while
Balochistan again lagging significantly behind. Both Dr Pasha’s analysis
and the aforementioned report suggest that the new distribution scheme
has benefitted the provinces; however, the positive effect is not sufficiently
effective in eradicating decades of neglect and relative deprivation.
• The intra-provincial distribution brings forward an interesting picture with the urban-
rural poverty gap increasing for Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan in 2015-16. The report
also points out that from 2009 to 2014, the per capita allocation of revenues to district
Lahore was almost 18 times higher the average of all other districts in the province
combined. The largest gap was recorded in Sindh with Karachi receiving almost 100
times more in per capita than other districts.
• A 2018 research brief by Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) goes so far as to
say that the revenue allocation to districts in Punjab has been negatively correlated
with the level of poverty, with the poorest districts receiving lowest share of
allocation. Not surprisingly, the poorest districts are all from South Punjab. This
geographical divide in access to basic resources has intensified ethnic cleavages.
• Analysis

• (I) The broad breadth of the reforms and the cooperative and
inclusive nature of the deliberative process meant that the 18th
Amendment was not only legally important, but also
symbolically significant.
• (II) The Eighteenth amendment does more than repeal the 17th
amendment that had given enormous authority to the president. It
also removes clutter that had accumulated in the constitution as
result of the tinkering by the two military leaders, first president Zia-
ul-Haq and then president Musharaff… (S.J.Burki) p. 8
• (III) Decentralization of policy-making as well as implementation of
policies made are important outcomes of the eighteenth amendment
(S.J Burki, p.2)
• (IV) Pakistan will follow the example of neighboring India that
reorganized the country essentially on linguistic grounds soon after
achieving independence, S.J Burki, p.17
• (V) though it has not been able to address preexisting disparities?
Would that limitation /flaw make it redundant? We would like to posit
that no. A step in right direction is more desirable than inactivity.
{Saadia Shahbaz and Karim Khan } The ET 13 March 2020
Suggestions: the
kind of reforms
which are needed
and what should be
their direction?
Improvement in
governance
purpose:
(II) Making the role of local
governments more effective
(II) Making the role of local
governments more effective
• Next two slides further elaborate the point
Local government (II)
(III) Capacity building of provincial government so as
to enable them to dispense newly delegated
responsibilities more efficiently and effectively
 (IV) The federal government should
not absolve itself of responsibilities of
human development in the provinces
though investments in health and
education sectors
Conclusion: reiterate the positives
features
The amendment
as a giant step
towards what?
It s success
would depend
upon which
factor?
What would be the real test of the
amendment?