NATIONALISTS in Sindh believe that PPP governments had compromised on the interest of Sindh more than other ruling parties. Some believe that the PPP has served the people of Sindh relatively better than other ruling parties.

Even some people from the PPP complain that Sindh contributes more than 65 per cent in revenue generation but it gets a meagre 23.71.

Allocation of resources from the centre to provinces through the National Finance Commission has remained a major bone of contention among the provinces.

Sindh's stand is that the distribution of resources must be made on the revenue.

Punjab insists on population. Balochistan persists on area, backwardness and greater share from its natural resources. While the NWFP insists that poverty, royalty on hydro-electricity projects and now the refugees must be included for the just distribution through the NFC.

Under the Constitution the GST is the exclusive domain of provinces but it was overtaken by the centre during the period of 1948 to 1950.

The ZAB government promised to abolish the concurrent list, which would have transferred powers from the centre to provinces, in the next 10 years but he could not live long to honour his words.

Dictator Zia did not bother to delegate some power to provinces. Both governments of Benazir Bhutto during the 1990s were prematurely dismissed. As a result, the matter related to resource distribution among provinces remained largely dormant.

However, in 1997 a consensus was sought on the last NFC, and it lapsed in 2002.

In 2006, president Musharraf finally intervened at the request of the provinces and amended the financial resource distribution formula.

After formation of the nine-member NFC committee by President Zardari recently, the demands by non-official circles from Sindh are becoming louder and some are accusing the PPP of compromising on the NFC.

They are bent upon rejecting the award if it did not incorporate the distribution on revenue. They maintain that the PPP, occupying the Presidency, the PM House and its collation government in the four provinces, is in a strong position to correct the maladies of the past and help the people of Sindh in getting their due share of resources.

Experts from Sindh are sceptical and that the Sindh chief minister, who also holds the portfolio of finance minister, would hardly be able to spare enough time from his tight schedule to prepare a strong case on the NFC.

They also doubt his expertise to face the more sophisticated members of the commission, especially from Punjab, and negotiate with them on complex technical matters.

Similarly, experts say that Qasir Bengali, a non-official member from Sindh, though a prominent economist, lacks the prowess to bargain on technical issues as he does not belong to “applied economics”.

Thus, according to media commentators, the team from Sindh is not fit to face economic eagles from the other federating units. Therefore, the PPP government should reconsider and reconfigure its team.

Although, on the objection by Sindh, Hina Rabbani Khar as special member and the secretary, finance, have been dropped from the NFC committee. Two months ago PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had publicly stated that Punjab was willing to include other factors, such as area, backwardness and revenue generation, along with population in the next NFC award.

This is no doubt a positive development and shows farsightedness of the PML(N) leadership and will greatly help the PPP government to reach an early consensus on the NFC award.

The PPP is in a better position to announce a just NFC award where smaller provinces, especially Sindh and Balochistan, are given their longstanding financial rights.

The people of Sindh do not ask the PPP to usurp the resourses from other provinces. They just want their constitutional rights.

GULSHER PANHWER
Johi