powers of the pivotal Deputy Commissioner position and placing it under the control of the
district government. A number of other roles and functions have been devolved to the local
level, though in practice the bureaucracy in the provincial governments continues to exercise
significant authority, if only because local governments lack the expertise and capacity to handle
the administrative complexities. In the 2002 local government elections, the military intelligence
apparatus did apparently intervene to ensure that their supportive groups assumed the office;
while the fact that the district nazim is not directly elected also leaves room for manipulation.
Nevertheless, if this new structure continues to articulate, then local development, social sector
delivery, and the application of economic resources at the ground level will have experienced a
major transition.
A major reform that the Musharraf regime could have attempted, but failed even to consider
seriously owing to the risks attached, was the restructuring of provincial entities. Pakistan has
the same four provinces it inherited in 1947, though the population has more than quadrupled,
socio-economic realities are far more complex, and administrative and governance challenges
have increased manifold. India has almost doubled the number of states in sixty years,
reflecting greater responsiveness to changing conditions and ethnic or linguistic distinctions. In
Pakistan, having four large provinces, each carrying major weight, has created seemingly
insurmountable problems over such decisions as the construction of the Kalabagh Dam, till
recently the sharing of waters of the Indus river system, and even the annual national finance
award for the provincial sharing of fiscal resources. The Punjab alone has over eighty million
people, larger than any country in Europe except united Germany. Karachi, with approximately
fifteen million people, could easily be a separate province. Around twelve provinces could be
created with thin administrations to provide better services to the growing population.
The level of cooperation and integration in the regional economy can make a significant
contribution to a country’s economic well-being in the contemporary world. Pakistan is uniquely
placed in an excellent geographical location where all three circles of Central, South and West
Asia intersect. Its geographical position has given intense economic and geo-strategic
importance over millennia matched by few other regions (and it’s ‘civilization’ is now, for better
or worse, in its seventh millennium). However, South Asia is the region where its natural
alignment lies. Nevertheless, efforts at regional cooperation in South Asian have been perhaps
the most retarded internationally. Not only is the total external trade of the SAARC (South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation) countries a mere fraction of total world trade, but only a
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