Wronged for long

Federating units that are lucky can raise some revenues on their own from their rich urban and industrial areas. The large urban centres of Pakistan – like Karachi (Sindh) and Lahore (Punjab) – have historically had large public-spending programmes, building public infrastructure and services, and in turn attracting private-sector investment. Today’s tax capacity located in these cities is not completely uncorrelated to the historic public spending in urban centres.While Pakistan’s urban centres should keep developing, the areas that have long been neglected in public funding should start receiving adequate levels of funds to attain regional parity and create further depth in the consumer markets and the larger national economy.The last decade shows that mean spending in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan under NFC transfers remained at levels well above the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) – in some cases twice the per capita spending in Fata. No wonder then that schools and health facilities in Fata remained below par. At present 0.45 million children remain out of school in former Fata. The road connectivity in the region's difficult geographic terrain is 0.26 km per square kilometre, hampering access to markets and the meagre public services. Maternal mortality – at 375 mothers losing lives during childbirth – is one of the highest in the world.Each district of Pakistan has dozens of offices of departments providing services to people. In former Fata, these remained conspicuous by their absence, carrying on a low cost and low service model of governance. These citizens of Pakistan would either travel long distances to access the services provided by the state at convenient locations in the rest of the country or remain unserved.Projected for the last seven decades since independence, the total size of the under-financing of Fata comes to Rs2,639 billion at least. All along, the residents of what is former Fata have continued to bear a proportionate burden of indirect taxes that in turn contribute 60 percent of total national revenue at the federal level. Only in recent years has Fata received Rs50 billion of public expenditure per year but received only Rs50 billion or much less of financing for public services.It is not surprising that the shameful lag of epic proportions in the development of the Fata region can be largely explained by the under-financing – by equally large figures – of public services in the region. Fata merged with KP via a constitutional amendment on May 31, 2018. During the current fiscal year (2018-19), KP did not get its constitutional share in NFC transfers as population, poverty-related needs and the thinly spread population of Fata have not been included in computing KP’s share in transfers.For our tribal brethren to seek and enjoy the opportunities of life similar to other Pakistani citizens, the entire nation is to share this responsibility. Which is why Germany’s example holds relevance. The challenge of creating development parity for the citizens in former Fata is no less daunting than it was in the German case. It has to be approached similarly with no mental barriers and with the right spirit. Will we recognize our national duty? Compared with the German example of spending 6.5 percent for the greater cause of integration, if Pakistan decides to spend Rs100 billion per year to bring human development and public services in Fata closer to the rest of Pakistan, it will only amount to 0.002 percent of GDP.The greatest question of national importance today is how to right the wrong, and how quickly and how soon to regain the lost 50 years of development for the people of Fata. This question cannot be postponed. It cannot only be debated. It cannot just be left to number crunching.It is about an integration that has come about. Now it asks for complete citizenship, and what the nation owes to its citizens who lost half a century of development. This is an occasion waiting to be converted into an opportunity, leading on to national destiny through timely and appropriate decision-making.The writer is the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

from The News International - Opinion http://bit.ly/2WJL1jc