31
under the cloak of necessity and governments as a result can be, and are,
overthrown in Pakistan.
It is argued that disparity of representation also leads to secession attempts. This
assertion is substantiated by the following examples:
• In Pakistan, the Sindhudesh movement for the creation of an
independent Sindhi state, first emerged in 1972 under the leadership of G M
Syed.
107
In March 2012 hundreds of thousands of people gathered to demand
independence.
108
• Also in Pakistan, Baluchistan may be on the verge of secession as it 'poses
what is widely seen as a near East Pakistan like threat'.
109
• The Scottish secession attempt of 2014, where some Scottish people
demanded full decision-making power in regard to the political affairs of their
nation. In the words of Alex Salmond 'the people who live in Scotland are
best placed to make the decisions that affect Scotland'.
110
Pakistan faces the problem of disparity of representation of the provinces as an
established fact, as discussed in 4.3 in more detail. One province alone – Punjab,
hence the concerns of the groups in the first two bullet points above - can form a
government in the lower house. This is due to its large population and ultimately
the seat allocation reflects the unbalanced nature of this majority population in a
single province. This might not have been such a huge issue had the upper house
been directly elected. The problem is due to the indirect election of the upper house
by the provincial assemblies.
Montesquieu in addition to the first dimension of representation also envisaged
about the second dimension as he argued that the legislature should be composed
of two houses, each of which can prevent acts of the other from becoming law.
111
The checks and balances are therefore not only associated with the separation of
107
Farhan Siddiqi,
The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan: The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir Ethnic
Dostları ilə paylaş: