Interesting comments by the Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan…
DAWN
The one thing that Pakistan has not been able to achieve and has failed to address is devolution of power. Gen Musharraf’s creation of Nazims and all such devolution plans were designed to address this issue.
I think they have to recognize the fact that there is one majority ethnic group in Pakistan, the Punjabis, with a small class of minorities surrounding it. And the minorities haven’t had good feedback from the federal government. It is essential that the central government give more power and money to the area alongside the Afghan border, the NWFP, Balochistan and, to some extent, Northern territories. Sindh and Punjab are okay, as basically they have always been in majority and have been more successful.
I hope that in the future the people of Punjab, who are more broad-minded and are leaders of this country, would think beyond their province and think about the entire Pakistan. If this can be achieved, the future of Pakistan is very bright.
It really must be embarrasing for Pakistan to have outsiders (govt. officials of other countries) giving advice on how Pakistan shold be run and how a particular province should treat another province.
Given the 21st century circumstances, morals and ethics - democracy is the only way any country can survive and flourish.
And what does 'a country flourishing' mean - that more and more people are getting better standard of living continuously. That it doesn't matter whether you're in the minority or majority - still you get opportunities just the same and get to enjoy the results of hard work and intellect just the same.
It doesn't matter where the advise comes from as long as the advise makes sense.
I am a staunch pro Democracy advocate. I admirer of Thomas Paine and his social ideals, but Pakistan's Punjab situation is natural. In terms of population it is the biggest province, thus gets the lions share. Seems pretty sensible to me.
^ actually it gets a disproportionate share which is negation of the concept of federation which means equality amongst federating units and not on the basis of populatuib
Also, there is'nt anything inherent or otherwise in democracy that makes it incumbent on the majority to appropriate anything for the minority. So, If Punjab(is) is the biggest province and are overwhellming majority of the population, there is no onus on them to cater to the minorities. Infact dominance of other provinces/ethnic groups is the only modus operandi of the majority.
The other day I was looking at the reports of heavy weapons seizure in Quetta, guess the name of the Police officer in charge in Quetta......Bhatti.....How many mian bhais from Karachi are SHO, constables, DSPs in Lahore?????