Pakistan, an administrative nightmare?

[Kompromat]

Pakistan is a country of 200 million people, it's divided in 4 provinces, FATA, Azad Kashmir ,Islamabad capital territory and Gilgit Batistan. As things stand, if you live in Bahawalpur, Nawabshah, Gwadar and in some far flung area of KPK and you happen to have a high court case or any major administrative problem you'd need to travel to Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Islamabad or Peshawar.

We all know that our law enforcement issues are very much linked to the failure of our state to deliver a robust justice system. Na Insafi in Pakistan is the root cause of all major issues we face. The reason why we fail to deliver justice is because we have failed to deliver these services and infrastructure geographically closer to our people in rural areas where 60% of our people live.

The solution to this problem is to create more administrative units like provinces etc. The power of the provincial governments must be cut to its size. The government services can only be deployed to people effectively when those services are available close to them.

If you take an example from the G-10 economies, they all have more provinces or states than Pakistan which makes it easier for them to govern and distribute services.

In my opinion, Pakistan needs at least 20-30 provinces or administrative units. They mustn't be designed on ethnolinguistic lines but according to the Population Density Index (PDI). They need to be further divided into tiny local administrations like the LG system Musharaf created.

Smaller provinces or administrative units will chanel revenue to the under developed areas rather than concentrating them in big cities like we see in Lahore.

Lastly. Only a system like this would allow us to create a functional network of nation wide Basic Governmental Services Units (BGSUs). These BGSUs will include basic health centers, primary, elementary schools, NADRA's eGovt service, legal services, postal services, community hall, police and other services like clean water dispensers, WiFi spot, sports facilities and residence for employees.

This may sound like a huge investment, because it is. However it will also create the necessary administrative foundation for Pakistan to be eventually propelled into the developed world

@Hyperion @Atanz @Icarus

 

[Gufi]

The solution to this problem is to create more administrative units like provinces etc. The power of the provincial governments must be cut to its size. The government services can only be deployed to people effectively when those services are available close to them.

Playing the role of the devil's advocate the main problems with this method are:

• More ministers, more provincial system, and a larger government set up draining the public tax dollars or rupees to be more accurate
• The formation of more provinces will make it harder for decisions to be made like dams, energy provinces etc.
• War lord like control of ruling families over entire provinces with their police and justice system will tighten thier already extreme grip over their people
• Strong parties with leaders like Altaf Hussain who call for independence whenever they feel like it will have more serious consequences when they have hold of one or more provinces.

Rather then increasing the provinces with the same broken system, the basic systems in the provinces should be fixed.

• Decisions like dams should have more state players, with representation of the provinces who need to give practical reasons based on facts rather then hysterical speeches.
• Hospitals and other important government buildings should not only be in the capital of the province, rather there should be a population to hospital ratio which all major cities and minor cities have to implement before new projects on further development are started.
• A fixed percent of the budget should be allowed to every city based on its size, rather then concentrating resources it would make sure that they are distributed evenly
• Local body elections in their true sense should be the next important step with power reaching the people who can then decide how to use the funds. Many people complain of the excessive funds allocated to certain cities not realising the projects are mostly for those who have no interest in said projects.

The issue of people being represented properly can not be solved by dividing into smaller parts, but rather by fixing the system that is in place. If there is a hope that we will move forward it has to be by fixing core problems rather then just thinking simple fixes will solve the problem, because issues like internal Sindh being divided into two will not solve the problem of the locals, who need a stronger federal government, accountability of funds, and certain mandated levels of development before funds are realised.
There should be x number of schools for x number of people, to reach a milestone, after which the next milestone should be targeted and funds realised only when the said milestone is properly reached. For this we need honest leadership, nothing else.
@Horus your opinion

 

[RoadRunner401]

Solution is simple, give democracy time to mature and invest in education. Yes I know my solution is not sexy, but it's the one that will do the trick.

 

[Kompromat]

Points well made.

1: I have no problems with a big government. It's a requirement for a country of 200 million people. Without a big government you can't govern effectively .

2: Smaller provinces will not empower the fudel class, it would weaken them when their power will be limited and open to competition. I have seen it unfold myself in some cases.

3: All infrastructure projects minus the local infrastructure ought to be controlled by the federation. Right now if KPK government refuses to go along with a project or any other province does so, the project is consequently dumped. That won't be happening anymore as more provinces will automatically create an environment where the name of the game would be consultation.

4: Altaf Hussein is a psychopath. He and his likes will not be empowered by this system. In the presence of a robust judicial system, people like him will be spending their lives in solitary confinement.

5: Current system is an utter failure, it has failed the farmer from Punjab, Sindh, fisherman from Gwadar, Kebab farosh from Peshawar and our FATA tribes, AJK and GB. It has been given 70 years to function. It has failed us and it's going to continue to fail us.

 

[Hyde]

I was thinking to create a thread on same issue since last few days about why I think Pakistan should have at least 30 provinces.

I will write my opinion in detail later but I am a strong defender of reviving divisions of Pakistan and giving them provincial status, else consider giving the status of provinces or counties to roundabout 106 districts of Pakistan

The least most idea is to craft out 8 provinces from Punjab, 6 each from Sindh and Balochistan, merge FATA with KP and bring another 4 provinces from KP. that's 24 provinces for you, now give districts of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan province like status and divolve the powers all across Pakistan

If we follow UK model, we might need 150 provinces in Pakistan

 

[Gufi]

2: Smaller provinces will not empower the fudel class, it would weaken them when their power will be limited and open to competition. I have seen it unfold myself in some cases.

This point I would like to counter with, how many people will oppose Zardari, how many will oppose MQM in Karachi, how will any change come in Southern Punjab, how kind will the Chaudry be when he owns half of a district , go check out the assets declared of big name politicians in the election commission website and you will notice they own mass amounts of agricultural land, and their extended families own all the agricultural land at the district level having a choke hold on the villagers they have under them. I think you are over optimistic but the fact is if Lahore was a province along with surrounding villages, we would see development in a very superficial way with no way of changing the status quo or the death grip that they would have with a stronger grip on the police, the courts, and the policies of spending.
For real change we need to change the provision of funds like I mentioned to be mandatory rather then concentrate power to certain families in the regions they belong to. This will strengthen family politics further and dissent will not be met with anything but violence.

3: All infrastructure projects minus the local infrastructure ought to be controlled by the federation. Right now if KPK government refuses to go along with a project or any other province does so, the project is consequently dumped. That won't be happening anymore as more provinces will automatically create an environment where the name of the game would be consultation.

The federation is going to be made up of ruling families who will try and form coalition governments which will be fragile and thus unable to agree on any real issue. The PML-Q would resurface with some provinces, PTI and PPP would get a larger piece of the pie, with MQM and ANP even having chances of being provincial parties. Divide and conquer is more like what this will do, more infighting and less work.

4: Altaf Hussein is a psychopath. He and his likes will not be empowered by this system. In the presence of a robust judicial system, people like him will be spending their lives in solitary confinement.

Tried in the Sindh High court, or more accurately the Karachi High court. Maybe you could summon him to the Supreme court but imagine the number of target killers who would be appearing in these courts.

5: Current system is an utter failure, it has failed the farmer from Punjab, Sindh, fisherman from Gwadar, Kebab farosh from Peshawar and our FATA tribes, AJK and GB. It has been given 70 years to function. It has failed us and it's going to continue to fail us.

Any system in the world will fail when those enforcing it are not sincere to it. You need to change the set up to be less corrupt and then even if you reduce the provinces it would work out. Local bodies need to be given greater power, leaders who can take decisions which are brave need to come into power. Land reforms under this set up or a new set up is impossible unless someone with a vision comes. Taxes which are meant to be truly for the people are not going to come which ever system comes unless there are honest people at the helm
I would like to ask you if nearly every bureaucrat is corrupt, every politician works on vested interests, then how can giving power to more of the same change anything.
A strong executive body, with the power to chase down corruption with no restrictions and a strong federal policy which has think tanks focusing on problems which are going to face us in a few years or a decade from now needs to be formed and decide policies based on that. Seriously for nearly the last decade. it seems drunk monkeys have the helm of the ship, and they are steering it with no clue other then personal gain.

@Aether please do counter my points so we can have a meaningful debate on these points. I am basically opposing this while it seems a majority of the seniors will favour it.

 

[MastanKhan]

Solution is simple, give democracy time to mature and invest in education. Yes I know my solution is not sexy, but it's the one that will do the trick.

Sir,

There is no such thing as give some time to democracy to mature----. Do you leave a cancer untreated when you find it?

@Horus

Pakistan should have been split up into counties many a years ago and done away with the provinces. 20 to 30 administrative units.

 

[livingdead]

Indian experience shows smaller provinces are generally better governed(there are some exceptions). Which is why there are so many movement for separation. Most recent ones was splitting of Andhra Pradesh(which was quite emotional issue, as these states were made based on languages). Before that 3 new states were formed by BJP govt.
Better administration and more democracy were the reasons cited during all the campaigns. Are there any genuine grassroot campaign to get such provices in pakistan?

 

[VelocuR]

We just wish Pakistan has numerous of tall buildings and skycrapers but this country has a huge problems to the deep underground than we thought. We understand China's short 30 years quickly transformed, Pakistan must be very slow and take a very longer to 70-85 years from right now.

They need to think outside the box independently.

 

[Norwegian]

@Horus
Failures to administer territory that large as Pakistan effectively is known for decades. During Tahir-ul-Qadri's recent dharna, he envisioned Pakistan divided into a number of administrative units, mind you not more provinces. A province and an administrative unit are two entirely different things. And we have working examples of dozens of sovereign states worldwide that are governed pretty effectively by dividing their territories based on their population density. Have a look at this map of my country Norway with its 19 administrative subnational divisions:

Do we see a general pattern here? Of course we do! These divisions are not based on various ethnicities, linguistics or various groups of people living here but by their population density! Northern areas of Norway are scarcely populated so there are way less subdivisions there than southern parts of Norway. By the time you reach the capital Oslo, these divisions get even smaller indicating larger population density.
So for a country with a population of only 5 million people, we have 19 big counties, that are further divided into 430 municipalities which gives you a woven net of a map like this:

And that's how we achieve a brilliant quality of democracy at both local, regional and national level that places Norway at the top most list of ALL countries year after year:

Global Democracy Ranking

If there is one thing that keeps this long and stretched country together in peace and harmony, it must be all the hard work its ancestors did hundreds of years ago by politically outlining the future prospect of this great and peaceful nation!

 

[Viking 63]

Bigger provice means bigger corruption means bigger bank balance= Sindh Punjab kpk and Baluchistan.

 

[mr.robot]

Pakistan is a country of 200 million people, it's divided in 4 provinces, FATA, Azad Kashmir ,Islamabad capital territory and Gilgit Batistan. As things stand, if you live in Bahawalpur, Nawabshah, Gwadar and in some far flung area of KPK and you happen to have a high court case or any major administrative problem you'd need to travel to Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Islamabad or Peshawar.

We all know that our law enforcement issues are very much linked to the failure of our state to deliver a robust justice system. Na Insafi in Pakistan is the root cause of all major issues we face. The reason why we fail to deliver justice is because we have failed to deliver these services and infrastructure geographically closer to our people in rural areas where 60% of our people live.

The solution to this problem is to create more administrative units like provinces etc. The power of the provincial governments must be cut to its size. The government services can only be deployed to people effectively when those services are available close to them.

If you take an example from the G-10 economies, they all have more provinces or states than Pakistan which makes it easier for them to govern and distribute services.

In my opinion, Pakistan needs at least 20-30 provinces or administrative units. They mustn't be designed on ethnolinguistic lines but according to the Population Density Index (PDI). They need to be further divided into tiny local administrations like the LG system Musharaf created.

Smaller provinces or administrative units will chanel revenue to the under developed areas rather than concentrating them in big cities like we see in Lahore.

Lastly. Only a system like this would allow us to create a functional network of nation wide Basic Governmental Services Units (BGSUs). These BGSUs will include basic health centers, primary, elementary schools, NADRA's eGovt service, legal services, postal services, community hall, police and other services like clean water dispensers, WiFi spot, sports facilities and residence for employees.

This may sound like a huge investment, because it is. However it will also create the necessary administrative foundation for Pakistan to be eventually propelled into the developed world

@Hyperion @Atanz @Icarus

Points well made.

1: I have no problems with a big government. It's a requirement for a country of 200 million people. Without a big government you can't govern effectively .

2: Smaller provinces will not empower the fudel class, it would weaken them when their power will be limited and open to competition. I have seen it unfold myself in some cases.

3: All infrastructure projects minus the local infrastructure ought to be controlled by the federation. Right now if KPK government refuses to go along with a project or any other province does so, the project is consequently dumped. That won't be happening anymore as more provinces will automatically create an environment where the name of the game would be consultation.

4: Altaf Hussein is a psychopath. He and his likes will not be empowered by this system. In the presence of a robust judicial system, people like him will be spending their lives in solitary confinement.

5: Current system is an utter failure, it has failed the farmer from Punjab, Sindh, fisherman from Gwadar, Kebab farosh from Peshawar and our FATA tribes, AJK and GB. It has been given 70 years to function. It has failed us and it's going to continue to fail us.

I was thinking to create a thread on same issue since last few days about why I think Pakistan should have at least 30 provinces.

I will write my opinion in detail later but I am a strong defender of reviving divisions of Pakistan and giving them provincial status, else consider giving the status of provinces or counties to roundabout 106 districts of Pakistan

The least most idea is to craft out 8 provinces from Punjab, 6 each from Sindh and Balochistan, merge FATA with KP and bring another 4 provinces from KP. that's 24 provinces for you, now give districts of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan province like status and divolve the powers all across Pakistan

If we follow UK model, we might need 150 provinces in Pakistan

That right there is the key to many major problems of the country. There would be some new problems as a side result but that won't be as gigantic as current. If we had understood it in 50s, East Pakistan would have been still with us. Concentration of Power at any point is a major problem as game theory tells us. Another good result of the devolution would be that I could change my signature to a quote from the movie "A beautiful Mind"

 

[Norwegian]

Concentration of Power at any point is a major problem

All power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely

Don't need more than a proverb to explain Pakistan's current mess

 

[Menace2Society]

Power sharing is something Pakistanis are not very good at.

 

[Norwegian]

Power sharing is something Pakistanis are not very good at.

Good at? Its something we were never taught as a child during our upbringing. Here in the West, in nurseries and schools, I see children are taught to share their toys even when they don't want to. This sets the path for the future of these children where they learn that if they wish to live happily, they must learn to share everything with another person. Its the complete opposite of greedy culture that we have in South Asia where we buy one toy as a "property" for any child. Such horrible practice by the adults that destroy childrens mind and hence their future!