Devolving power.

Byline: Dr Niaz Murtaza

PRO-ESTABLISHMENT politicians are demanding a review of the 18th Amendment. This law devolved power in an ethnically tense state where the strong urge to centralise has often given tragic results, as in 1971. Clearly, undoing devolution deviously sans popular mandate will only raise tensions.

Global lessons show that devolution is crucial for large or ethnically diverse states. It makes rulers more accountable and reduces conflicts by giving political space to diverse ethnicities. The value of devolution is clear regionally too. Within Saarc, only Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives are unitary states without provinces, but for good reasons. Bhutan and the Maldives are tiny. Bangladesh is area-wise small and 98 per cent Bengali and 90 per cent Muslim. Among large Saarc states, it is the only natural nation-state, like Western European ones where most people belong to one race, faith and ethnicity.

Such states, less hit by internal conflicts, usually progress faster. Bangladesh too is fast becoming Saarc's economic star. But given large numbers, it too may adopt federalism eventually. Despite non-devolution, these three have faced much less conflict due to small sizes and/or homogeneity and seen some progress too.

Diverse states only do well with devolution. Unlike Bangladesh's natural nationhood, the other large Saarc states have cultivated nationhood, ie where multiple ethnic groups live in a larger state due to perceived mutual benefits. Such states have to devolve power to the ethnic groups to keep them happy with the union.

Diverse states only do well with devolution.

This hasn't always happened in Saarc. Afghanistan, at war for 40 years, has had no chance to develop constitutionally. Sri Lanka was a unitary state till 1987, causing huge grief among its Tamil minority and a long civil war. The war has ended but not Tamil complaints as it remains centralised with no Senate and largely dummy provinces. Nepal was a unitary state with three main ethnicities and saw a long Maoist civil war along class lines. A pact in 2015 on devolution with seven provinces ended the war and political impasse. But it remains to be seen how well it is implemented.

That leaves the two Saarc behemoths and arch-rivals. The 1940 Lahore Resolution, with its reference to autonomy for regions, shows that the Muslim League two-nation appeal to Muslims was based on the notion of cultivated nationhood with a promise of devolution.

Muslims had...