Devolution without de-colonization will be disastrous

The system has collapsed; the wonder boy is right. Unfortunately, the remedy being proposed may prove even more deadly. Take the example of the Punjab Police (PP), a colonial force created by the colonisers to control and exploit the people. It will now be split into smaller units in the name of devolution, but its fundamental character will remain unchanged. Its venom and ability to harm will remain the same.

There is an appropriate Urdu expression for such a predicament: *Aab-o-Taab*. The entire colonial administrative structure will be devolved with all its power and protocol intact. The *Aab-o-Taab* will remain, adding to the miseries of the public.

Half-cooked solutions cannot provide long-term relief to complex problems. Colonisation remains a reality, particularly in the largest province of the land now called the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (IRP), which is neither fully Islamic nor truly a republic, as experimentation continues even after nearly eight decades of so-called independence.

Iqbal believed that every individual was important, should be counted and served rather than exploited. He used the term *Har Fard*. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) used the expression *Taakat ka Sarchashma*—the fountain of power. He won West Pakistan, while Sheikh Mujibur Rahman prevailed in the eastern wing during the 1970 electoral contest, widely regarded as the country’s first free and fair election. What followed, as they say, is history.

The consensual 1973 Constitution envisages a federal structure of governance. It should be revered as the “Miracle of Islamabad”, which, despite powerful onslaughts, has survived. It has saved the federation from fragmentation and collapse.

The 18th Constitutional Amendment has cut Islamabad down to size. Now it is time to trim the provincial capitals by devolving power further down the ladder to the districts through local governments. Most successful federations function in this manner.

In the United States, the world’s oldest constitutional democracy, there is a three-tier system of power sharing. The president runs the federation, governors govern the federating states, while elected mayors serve cities and towns. Legislatures make laws, which the executive implements. The judiciary operates independently. Institutional domains are respected and adhered to.

The Constitution is followed in both letter and spirit. Amendments are allowed, but only after due process. Elections are held according to schedule, rain or shine, in war or peace. The presidential term is four years, and only two terms are permissible. For 250 years, the republic has grown and prospered under the “power of the people”. Today, it remains the world’s leading superpower and one of its largest economies.

I remember my meeting with Lt Gen Tanvir Naqvi, who was heading the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) during the Musharraf regime. He shared his devolution plan with me, and we had a heated discussion about its implementation. He was relying on the colonial bureaucracy to implement a system that was designed to cut that very bureaucracy down to size.

When he was unable to convince me, he said that implementation was the Chief Executive’s domain, not his. When problems started to surface, he left, leaving the NRB under the control of his juniors, who lacked the capacity to deliver.

The National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) was another failed initiative of that era. A doctor friend of the president had promised to improve health and education by raising funds from the expatriate community. He travelled all over the world seeking donations that never came. Eventually, the organisation had to be dismantled and its staff laid off, leaving the two sectors in an even more difficult situation.

The problem is not limited to Pakistan. Many former colonies of the British Empire remain in a mess while the rest of the world has advanced. India has performed relatively better because it has succeeded in building democratic institutions.

About two years ago, I met a scholar from the United Kingdom who was working on de-colonisation as a means of ending the plight and miseries of the former subjects the British had left behind.

The United States was among the countries that successfully freed itself from the colonial yoke by dismantling much of the system left behind by its colonial rulers. It even chose to drive on the right-hand side of the road. Ownership of state land was transferred to the people instead of remaining with the King or Queen, as had been the colonial practice. The Homestead principle helped expand private land ownership.

Unless the colonial bureaucratic structure is fundamentally reformed, there can be little meaningful advancement. Americans reached this conclusion nearly 250 years ago as they sought to free themselves from colonial rule.

Devolution is bound to fail unless it is preceded by genuine de-colonisation. In the words often attributed to Einstein, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Unplanned divisions can lead to insurmountable problems. Such consequences must be avoided in the best national interest.