Comment: PTI, PML-N and PPP

Reform yourselves. Otherwise, someone else will do it for you. Please stop fighting over who controls what — and start competing over who delivers what.

Pakistan needs the PTI, PML-N and PPP more than ever. But, the PTI, PML-N and PPP need to outgrow the political model that made them dependent on monopolising territory and patronage.

Between 2010 and 2026, the federal government sent a total of Rs51 trillion to Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. Please agree that provincial finance commissions will transfer a defined share of resources downward. Please agree on a permanent local-government framework.

PTI, please move beyond mobilisation politics. For the record, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has received Rs8 trillion since the passage of the 18th Amendment. This amount could build roughly 107,000 schools, 27,000 clinics or 38,000 kilometres of roads. Put forward a detailed governance architecture with empowered districts and a three-tier fiscal formula.

PML-N, please voluntarily devolve Punjab before devolution is imposed. Hold credible local elections. Give mayors and districts real money, authority and control over service delivery. For the record, Punjab has received Rs29 trillion since the passage of the 18th Amendment. This amount could build roughly 387,000 schools, 97,000 clinics or 138,000 kilometres of roads.

PPP, if provincial autonomy is the principle, apply it within the province as well. It is difficult to argue for autonomy from Islamabad while resisting meaningful autonomy for Karachi, Hyderabad and districts inside Sindh. For the record, Sindh has received Rs14 trillion since the passage of the 18th Amendment. This could build roughly 187,000 schools, 47,000 clinics or 67,000 kilometres of roads.

PTI, PML-N and PPP, please sign a new political compact. Please agree on a minimum economic reform programme that survives changes of government.

Pakistan does not need weaker political parties. It needs political parties strong enough to give power away. Pakistan’s political parties have spent decades building provincial fortresses. The problem is that citizens do not live in provinces. They live in cities, districts, tehsils and neighbourhoods. The parties that endure will be those willing to share power, not those determined to monopolise it.

The writer is an Islamabad-based columnist.