Program with Pakistani partner supports democratic federalism
National Assembly - Islamabad
Provincial Assembly, Sind - Karachi
The Forum, with its partner the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, is working in a 2.5-year program to bring Pakistani politicians, civil society leaders, civil servants and academics together in each of the country’s four provinces to suggest ways to strengthen Pakistan’s federal system.
Roundtable Conference on Senate Reforms in Pakistan
Senator Nayyar Bukhari Leader of the House in Senate (Pakistan People’s Party) speaking at the Roundtable Conference on Senate Reforms in Pakistan.
Left to right: Zaffarullah Khan, Executive Director CCE, I.A. Rehman, Director Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Dr. Rasul Bakhsh Rais, head of the Social Sciences Department of Lahore University of Management Sciences, Senator Nayyar Bukhari, Dr. Jaffar Ahmad, Director Pakistan Study Centre of Karachi University and Senator Taj Haider of Pakistan People’s Party.
The Forum and the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) organized a roundtable discussion on ‘Senate Reforms in Pakistan’ on February 27, 2011 as a part of their on-going project on “Strengthening fe 
Our work in Pakistan
 In 2001, Forum experts Ronald Watts and Francois Vaillancourt produced reports on federalism-related subjects in Pakistan with support from Great Britain’s Department for International Development, the Canadian International Development Agency and the World Bank. In 2009, the German Foreign Office granted the Forum a 2.5-year program to facilitate and enhance dialogue between the provinces and the central government, and to reduce tensions among the provinces.
Federalism in Pakistan
The largest federal challenge for Pakistan, a geographically and demographically diverse nation, is to empower its provinces and tribal areas while maintaining a united federal republic. Today, Pakistan’s political and military leaders are being tested by terror attacks, many by insurgents based near the Afghanistan border. Punjab has about 56 per cent of the population, leaving the other three provinces in a minority position, thus ruling out a unitary or even a quasi-federal state.
Pakistan has ancient roots as a socio-political entity encompassing the Indus Valley. It was brought under centralized rule for three periods, the latest by the British in 1857-1947, and became independent in 1947 with the separation of British India into the Muslim country of Pakistan and largely Hindu India. These two countries fought wars in 1947-48 and 1965 over Kashmir, which both claim.
A first constitution was adopted in 1956 and then abrogated by the military in 1958. The second was adopted in 1962, then again abrogated by the military in 1969. Pakistan’s third constitution was adopted by the first directly elected Parliament in 1973 and enshrined a federal structure.
A major development in federalism in Pakistan was the 18th Amendment to the 1973 Constitution (the constitutional reform package), which was passed unanimnously by the National Assembly on April 8, 2010, returning parliamentary powers to their original nature with more powers given to the provinces. It was approved by the Senate on April 16 and signed by President Asif Ali Zardari on April 19.
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Research papers:
2009-2011 Pakistan-German Foreign Office: The German Foreign Office has granted the Forum $3,579,783 CAD over the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 to facilitate and enhance dialogue between the provinces in Pakistan and the central government, and conflicts among the provinces. With its partner organization, the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan (CCEP), the Forum will work to strengthen the capacities of key government institutions of intergovernmental relations to develop and implement policies for successful management and resolutions of centre-province conflicts. The Forum’s work began on August 1, 2009.
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Project Manager: Sheela Embounou [Head, Monitoring and Funder Relations]
Centre for Civic Education - Forum's partner in Pakistan
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