Uniformity of Sovereignty and writ of state within the nation:
If the writ of a state applies uniformly to all citizens, injustice will prevail and integration of the nation will suffer. However, the application of laws and regulations by a state; and issues of governance that lie within the purview of its institutions/organs must conform to culturally sensitive criteria. Ecological management, for example, should be regulated according to topography of a region, local cultural practice and according to natural conditions of purification within the specific ecology. Similarly, the economic activities of state could be decided by communal choice. However, for higher levels of governance, matters must be decided and executed to promote national objectives and serve the interests of society at large.
Criminal and civil law, being the most important subjects to be standardized nationally, should only vary in order to accommodate local cultural practices based on communal consensus. Civil Society is most likely to resist such legal adjustments since they are in conflict with global civil society objectives. In this matter, the regulatory role of state is critical. Federal subjects of economics, monetary management, like currency, foreign policy and defense are, by their nature subjects for central governance. Even in pre-modern times, it was only in the event of a centrifugal tendency that writ of state was flouted in these matters. State policy varied then, as it does now, for fiscal management and for encouraging/discouraging a trade or industry.
The core issue is not really that of uniformity of the writ of the state. The problem is how to reconcile the hybrid political dispensation that exists in Pakistan. The urban elite and a section of the citizens have been educated in the rudiments of modern democracy and act accordingly. They cast their votes for parties; expect them to develop an internal culture of ‘democratic’ traditions and conduct themselves in parliament like British or American public representatives. Another urban group sees its representatives in parliament as their main leaders and those in local bodies as subordinates. In a sense these people substitute political leaders in place of the clan or tribal leadership that has been replaced by modern institutions. The concept of peti bhai is a modern communal formation of the same kind that is a substitute for occupational links.
While the rural voters are closer to the second urban category, their image of a politician as a one window link with the government and the state makes them treat their candidate for the national or provincial house as an embodiment of all the institutions of state. They treat the politician is a mediator in local matters, as a solicitor in criminal cases, and an attorney when they are pleading for local development.
A pastoral voter is even more likely to view modern politics in this perspective because the interface with the state is so remote. The weak administrative link between a federal government and its local employees adds to lack of common grounds between a pastoral citizen and the state. Virtual independence of local provincial functionaries empowers the local elite; bringing quality of governance to a systemic collapse.
I will return to this when I present what I believe to be a possible solution to the Pakistani governance conundrum in part IV of this essay. In the following sections, I present some ground realities affecting conflict of interest between the people, their representatives and the state in applying the protocols for effective governance across the governance spectrum from local to provincial to national.
Local, provincial & national government: the root – the trunk –the fruit
In a democratic form of government, every failure to deliver on the part of incumbent rulers is a potential scoring point for the opposition which hopes to win the next elections if the incumbent is made to fail. Thus there is always a temptation to undermine the party in power. Due to a dichotomy between Pakistan’s elites and common citizen, this potential is exploited extensively. The opposition relish the opportunities to spike the guns of the government, and all possible beneficiaries in the executive take toll of the inefficacy of state machinery by blackmailing politicians for implementing projects on both sides of the parliamentary divide. To complicate matters, political space is contested between religious and secular actors at all levels. The elites [political, religious, military, bureaucratic, economic and social] are contesting for the same segment of public attention in order to win elections for the right to dominate decision making .
Unless communities are empowered and political space becomes accessible to a common citizen on a regular, easy to approach basis, there seems no hope of significant change. The solution may lie in dividing sovereignty of the state spatially, in such a way that the roster of rights, duties and privileges of citizens are vested in local and communal governance and guaranteed by the provincial and national decision makers.
The tehsil is our smallest administrative unit. So far, attempts to empower citizens politically at this level have failed because they need cross-communal cooperation, with some mechanism for inter-communal cooperation to make them viable. Pakistanis are adept at developing segregated communal cooperation. Thus, though municipal management of urban waste is generally inadequate, our streets are kept clean by an informal community of scavengers. A comparable rural example is grazing pastoral livestock in fields vacated by farmers after cropping; which provides manure to fields, clears fodder from the field and also nourishes livestock in the plains, thereby leaving the straw to be used in winter. DOMESTIC POLUTION IS THE HOUSEHOLDER’S BURDEN AND THE SCAVENGER’S LIVING; PLANT STUBS ARE A FARMER’S BANE AND THE SHEPARD’S WINDFALL: hum khurma-o-hum sawab – both parties have their cake and eat it too.
Nomadic, pastoral, rural and urban lives have distinct criteria for utilizing space/land/soil, water and air. Similarly, managing the ecology of the house, market, industry and farm is different from the management for mobile people like nomads and pastoral groups. While resource of air aren’t yet subject to human ownership; managing variety of water sources in a state should cater to the needs of each lifestyle. I will be revisiting this theme Insha-Allah, because I consider it a vital aspect of our communal formation.
Inland sources of water include rain that is virtually beyond the human ability to regulate; springs, lakes and rivers [managed by human since the start of urban life]; canals, dams, wells [almost exclusively produced by a human agency]. Management of underground and surface water in its purer form has been a social activity since time immemorial but management of polluted effluents was a concern for Harappans five thousand years ago. Throughout its ancient and pre-modern existence riverine water for agriculture in the land of Pakistan has been available to a limited area. However canal irrigation was used to extend the arable land close to rivers; other sources rural water like wells, ponds and lakes, existed through the ages.
In this day and age, we expect that chemical pesticides, fertilizers, human excreta from fields [being used as natural toilets] contaminate runoff from fields. Traditionally governmental management of pollutants had been confined to urban waste. Even today, except for packing material used in modern products there is little likelihood of much non-biodegradable waste from villages. The regulatory organs of state could be effective on a national level if they manage industrial effluents, packaging materials and urban solid waste. Management of other waste should be left to local bodies and communal organizations. In this matter the local bodies should act as the root of the governance structure linked with the districts and provinces.
Local/communal government: the current equation
In the matrix of governance issues our local government mechanism of communal economics and social responsibility is the key to Pakistan’s integration. It is probably also our best option for managing human and natural resources. The map of grazing and agricultural regions of Pakistan shows that we have a larger area for grazing. When we take into account the patterns of rain and topography, the grazing area is divided into several units; each requiring a different kind of water management and communal administration.
A tabulation of twelve governance issues under six tiers of administration, according to political space, social responsibility, and the rights-duties of citizens, seen in contrast with obligations and privileges of state/government is given below. Naturally, this varies in different ecologies and lifestyles which dictates that a separate dispensation should be adopted for every ecology. The differences will be most obvious when seen at the local level and gets reduced as we approach federal governance issues.
| Activity | Categories | Locality/Muhalla | Tehisil | District | Division | Province | |
| Civic duties | Pastoral Rural Urban | Basic Medium High | Low Med. High | Low Med. High | Low Medium High | Low Medium High | Low Medium High |
| Waste management | Biodegradable non degradable | High Low | Med. Med. | Low High | Nil? | Nil | Nil |
| Utilities | Electricity Gas PTCL Sewerage Roads | High [urban] Low [non-urban] | Low Low Nil Med. Med. | Med. Med. Nil Low Med. | Med. Low maintain – do – High | High High maintain – do – High | v. high v. high v. high minimal v. high |
| Water and power | Potable water For plants Domestic use Industrial use Fuels: Petrol, diesel, gas, kerosene wood & coal | High High High V. Low Incidental Low [local] | High High High Low Same as for locality | Med. Med. Med. Med. Almost same as for locality | Low Low Low High Medium | v. low v. low v. low high + high | Nil Nil Nil v. high v. high |
| Communication | Mobile phone Road Rail Air Virtual/Wi-Fi Telephone | Minimal except in vending facilities: urban areas: high low in rural areas | Min. | Med. | High | High | v. high |
| Trade | Commerce | incidental | Min. | Med. | High | High | v. high |
| Economy | incidental | Min. | Med. | High | High | v. high | |
| Industry | incidental | Min. | Med. | High | High | v. high | |
| Police | Neighborhood watch | Main | Med. | Med. | Main. | Specific | |
| Military | nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Specific | Main | |
| Taxation | Incidental/local | Min. | Med. | Med. | High | Main. | |
| Currency | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Main. |
The table assigns a very high rating for federal responsibility regarding most of the items. Civic obligations of pastoral Pakistanis are low or minimal in most matters. Currency and defense are excluded except at a national level. Mobile communities are not liberal about property as animals are not divisible. However, their instinct of ownership is also less than that of urban or rural people. This sliding scale of sympathy to ownership is crucial to comprehend how Pakistanis see socio-political culture, justice and governance.