From the very inception, Pakistan faced the problem of national integration as the leaders tried to create uniformity without unity and failed to achieve either. No regard was paid to diversity of language, culture, heritage, needs and aspirations of the constituent units.
All the constitutions of Pakistan failed to address the grievances of the provinces and no real autonomy was granted to them and as a result of this short sightedness of our earlier leaders we lost our half part, East Pakistan. Once again Pakistan is faced with the similar condition but now the marginalised province is Balochistan which is slowly and gradually heading towards the same path of succession from Pakistan.
Provincial autonomy is the essence of federalism and though the 18th amendment and Balochistan Package did much to address the issue but much more is needed to be done to redress the grievances of Balochistan.
It is never too late for our leadership to realise the past mistakes and to correct the blunders made by their predecessors.
Now is the turn of the present democratically elected government to make more effective policies to enable Balochistan to prosper and progress. This way the dream of long cherished national unity in our beloved country would become a reality.
HARIS RIZWAN
Karachi
