COMPARATIVE PROVINCIALISM IN PAKISTAN AND INDIA: CENTRALIZATION, ETHNIC PLURALITY, AND THE POLITICS OF REGIONAL GRIEVANCES

Abstract

The multiethnic, multilingual, centralized, and devolved processes of multiethnicity and nationalism in states are shown by comparative provincialism in Pakistan and India. Centralization of power, unequal distribution of resources, ethnic conflicts, language conflicts, and poor political representation are some of the acute problems. The desire and assertion of regional grievances has been resent and reinforced in Pakistan because of the overwhelming dominance of federalism and the past-day discrimination of the smaller states such as Balochistan and Sindh. In India, there are institutionalized means of provincial participation in the form of linguistic federalism and fiscal devolution, yet the disparities in development persist, as well as some central intrusions intended to generate tensions. The provincial identities and the establishment of the outcomes of governance rely significantly on cultural, linguistic, and historical elements. In spite of the fact that both countries possess the legal and constitutional frameworks, the focus of which lies in the unity and diversity balance, in most cases, realism is absent, which depicts the disparity between the policy and the reality. Such forces will play a significant role in the harmonization of fair governance, disparity between regions, and national harmony in Pakistan and India.