This autonomy to provinces thing is a long and complex debate. But this system of distributing resources as per population i.e. as per need is in no way ‘unfair’. In its own way it makes things less complicated and has helped with inter-ethnic integration.
Indeed it is unfair. In Balochistan, the population is scattered over long distances, hence they claim the resources be distributed based on the area. It is also a very valid demand. And I don’t know how you say it helped inter-ethnic integration. What I know is innocent Punjabi folks were identified and killed by the Balochs in various parts of Balochistan. If distribution of resources results in this kind of ‘inter-ethnic integration’ than I guess I am done with it.
Unless ofcourse, you ask the ‘my money, my land, my tribe, my province’ type faction-ists who’re never satisfied and hardly have the interests of the larger Pakistani population in mind.
The province that generates the revenue has the first right over it, later come the others. That is how it is done in the democratic and civilized countries. Out of several reasons, this was one of the major reasons for why East Pakistan broke away that is unfair distribution of the resources. If we are determined not to learn the lesson from the past, than I guess there is no point discussing anything. If this continues like this, Balochistan will eventually secede from Pakistan and for good I guess.
You never miss a chance to rage at Musharraf over his ‘lack of genuinely democratic rule’ but isn’t this anti-democratic? If there is a greater population and need in Lahore for gas than there is in Sui (a simple but crude example), shouldn’t the principle of democracy mean that what is favorable to the majority of the population should apply as opposed to ‘it came out of my land and therefore I decide who gets what and who doesn’t’.
No, democracy gives right to the people not takes it from them. If natural gas comes from the Sui Balochistan, than the royalty must go to Balochsitan so that the money earned could be used for the welfare of the people.
Can you imagine the bureaucratic hurdles and the stunted nature of national progress and functioning if our already troubled country got bogged down in all this needless nonsense?
I can imagine those hurdles, but for how long should we keep giving the same excuse and not fixing the problems?
You think we have food and water shortages due to avoidable mishandlings and red tape now, wait till you see what happens if your polarizing ideas are ever implemented (God forbid). The fact of the matter is that our people and their local governments are not ready for this. It would create too many problems and absolutely zero solutions. Things would be a mess with Pakistanis starving due to inter-provincial disputes which are a bad enough problem as it is.
It is going to be even worse if these issues are not settled.
Not really, you seem to have a distorted view of capitalism and no understanding of the term feudalism. There is no feudalism for instance in any of the developed countries that pioneered capitalism. Feudalism actually suppresses the potential of the local communities to contribute effectively to a capitalist economy. In a capitalist system a peasant can become a CEO but in feudal society a peasant is always a peasant. Actually, even socialist systems are arguably more feudal than capitalism where the work force is kept firmly in place through a conformity that gives the opportunity to advance only to a select few while the vast majority are kept content with their static fortunes.
You can never debate without attacking personally and putting the intelligence of the people to question. I live in USA, where you watch and experience capitalism every minute. And I belong to Balochistan, and my family is a feudal family. Feudalism I have learnt from my family background and capitalism from my own experience while living in the heart of the capitalism.
It is not correct to say that in capitalism, a farmer can become a CEO one day. No, things don’t work like this. Here in USA, all the small farmers were forced to sell their lands to the big farmers, and big farmers were forced to sell their lands to the multinational franchises. Who says a farmer can become a CEO? In fact, the farmer has to say goodbye to his profession if he has to survive. Fact of the matter is not what you are telling me, fact of the matter is this, that the multinational franchises own everything. And now these franchises are aiming at the lands in Africa, and in Asia. A farmer can only become an employee of these franchises, but CEO, you are seriously mistaking.
You have rightly said that Feudalism actually suppresses the potential of the local communities to contribute effectively to a capitalist economy and so does the capitalism. In US cities, you’ll not find small time grocery stores because all that business has already been taken up by the franchises such as Publix, Kroger. Similarly, personally owned pharmacies don’t exist here because their business has been snatched away by the franchises like CVS, Walgreens. Small general stores don’t exist here because of giants like Walmart, Kmart, and Target. The Restaurant business is taken over by McDonald, KFC, Wandy’s etc. All the housing business is in the hands of the banks, it is the bank that owns your house, not you. It is the bank that owns your car, not you. These are all the example of capitalism, where you remain who you are, and others use your money to collect their fortune. Now sometimes good things also happen, and a hard working middle class person may become a big shot. But such events are rare, and should be considered exceptions rather than the norms of a capitalist society.
So I do not restrict my vision of feudalism to the literal feudalism. For me there are so many similarities between the two that the two appear one to me. The names are different, the titles are different, but the philosophy and the functioning of the two are similar. Both the systems thrive through oppression, in feudalism, it is crude, in capitalism, it is more civil.