Point scoring in the name of a ‘name’

Daily Times LAHORE: While the 18th Amendment Bill has yet to become an act, the need for a 19th Amendment is already being considered in the political circles, to review what are being termed the “lacunas” left in the 18th Amendment. 

It is also being said that while the proposed renaming of NFWP to Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa is a good start to fulfil the demands of the various ethnicities in the provinces, the resulting backlash should be addressed by setting up a judicial commission to address the demands of the people of Hazara and the Seraiki-speaking. 

Protests against the renaming of NWFP turned violent on Monday in the mostly Hazara district of Abbottabad. The NWFP government and Interior Minister Rehman Malik may well be correct in their assertions that political elements played their roles in turning the protesters violent. The PML-Q’s U-turn on the 18th Amendment in general and the renaming issue in particular could be held responsible for this gory episode, but the issue needs to be looked at afresh as it is capable of creating a snowball effect, given its nature and the intensity of the demands of creating new provinces in the geographical boundaries of the provinces. The PML-Q is being squarely criticised for its policy on the 18th Amendment and is being asked to be precise on the Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa issue, as was the case with the PML-N when it chose to create hurdles to the tabling of the proposed amendment in the National Assembly. The PML-N, however, appears to have shunned its previous policy and now working to get the 18th Amendment approved as early as possible. The stumbling block in the Senate comprises the PML-Q, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the JUI, which could create problems. But as far as numerical strength is concerned, they cannot block the adoption of the province’s proposed name. But the issue doesn’t end here. The demography of the proposed Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa is prone to conflicts based on language. A vast area of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, comprising Chitral, Kohistan, Swat, Badgram, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Peshawar, Kohat, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan, is non-Pashtun and only settlers from the Pashtun areas speak Pashto. Peshawar itself was an area dominated by Hindko-speaking people before the Afghan war 32 years ago but the large-scale migration from Afghanistan turned the demography of the city upside down.

However, the issue of renaming the province is a blessing in disguise as it has paved the way for the creation of new administrative units based on a just system and according to the aspirations of the people deprived of their rights, as the units have become ungovernable due to their sizes and increasing populations. The movement for Hazara province after the Seraiki province has raised the question of a just federation yet again. If the division of India’s east Punjab into three states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and the further division of Himachal into administrative states did not create animosity amongst the inhabitants of these areas, one wonders why west Punjab in Pakistan cannot be divided into three administrative units predominantly on linguistic basis and called Pothohar (or Hindko), Punjab and Seraikistan. 

It was perhaps wise on the part of the PPP leadership that it didn’t want to open this Pandora’s box when the parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms was set up to undo the harm caused by the two military dictators: Gen Ziaul Haq and Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf with the help of assemblies created under the military establishment. However, the PPP and its allies in the provinces don’t appear to be on the wrong side of the divide over the issue of the creation of new administrative units, carved out of bigger provinces like Punjab.

But following the proverbial ‘first things first’ – without creating impediments in the passage of the 18th Amendment by the Senate followed by a presidential nod – the political forces could demand another amendment to the constitution at a time when the polity is ready for basic structural changes in the constitution. And to do the required spadework, a judicial commission or the existing parliamentary committee by extending its terms of reference may be asked to work on the creation of new administrative units. With this, further bloodshed in Hazara areas can be prevented, besides holding the wicked hands from playing their dirty games in the name of politics.