Federalism in Pakistan

Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republic, with powers shared between the Federal government and the provinces. Relations between federation and provinces are defined in Part V(Articles 141–159) of the constitution.{{cite web|url=http://pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/part5.ch1.html |title=Chapter 1: "Distribution of Legislative Powers" of Part V: "Relations between Federation and Provinces" |publisher=Pakistani.org |access-date=2015-04-24}} Many Pakistani parties support a federalist and regionalist agenda advocating for increased powers to be held by the provinces. The Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination manages federal relations between provinces while the Senate of Pakistan is an important body giving representation of the provinces of Pakistan in national governance.

Legislative powers

The power of the provinces and the Federal government were defined by the constitution and the legislative powers are divided into twenty lists.

The Concurrent List was abolished after the 18th amendment, and most powers were transferred to provinces.{{cite web |date=2010-03-31 |title=Concurrent List: some issues |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/844794/concurrent-list-some-issues |access-date=2015-04-24 |publisher=Dawn.com}}{{cite web |date=2010-04-08 |title=Are you current with the concurrent list! |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/856451/are-you-current-with-the-concurrent-list |access-date=2015-04-24 |publisher=Dawn.com}}

Council of Common Interests

Council of Common Interests or CCI was established as a body to solve disputes between the federation and the provinces. The membership of CCI consisted of the Prime Minister, Provincial Chief Ministers and three members nominated by federal government.{{cite web|url=http://pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/part5.ch3.html |title=Chapter 3: "Special Provisions" of Part V: "Relations between Federation and Provinces" |publisher=Pakistani.org |access-date=2015-04-24}}

The 18th Amendment

The federal framework of Pakistan was significantly reformed by the 18th Amendment.{{Cite journal |last=Adeney |first=Katharine |date=2012 |title=A step towards inclusive federalism in Pakistan? The politics of the 18th amendment. |url=https://academic.oup.com/publius/article-abstract/42/4/539/1863264 |journal=Publius: The Journal of Federalism |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=539-565}} The amendment adjusted the formula for sharing finance between the provinces. The amendment was followed by significant devolution of administrative responsibility to the provinces.{{Cite journal |last=Waseem |first=Mohammad |date=2024 |title=The federal project in Pakistan: Beyond fixing the design. |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14662043.2024.2393444 |journal=Commonwealth & Comparative Politics |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=206-228.}}

Advocacy for further reform

A number of political movements support expansion of the federation, to give provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan for example,{{Cite journal |last=Racine |first=Jean-Luc |date=2024 |title=Inside or outside the federation of Pakistan: the Gilgit-Baltistan conundrum |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14662043.2024.2422634 |journal=Commonwealth & Comparative Politics |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=339-354 |via=Taylor and Francis}} or to create new units out of existing provinces.{{Cite journal |last=Siddiqi |first=Farhan Hanif |date=2024 |title=Territorial re-organisation of administrative units in Pakistan: the demand for new provinces in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14662043.2024.2416269 |journal=Commonwealth and Comparative Politics |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=296-314 |via=Taylor and Francis}}

References

External links

[https://www.purduenode.com/2022/08/federalism-in-pakistan.html Federalism in Pakistan]

Category:Constitution of Pakistan

Pakistan

Category:Government of Pakistan