Ikramul Haq

Pakistan’s reform agenda should therefore begin not with another commission, another software platform or another increase in tax rates

The latest debt bulletin of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) confirms what many economists have feared for years.

These societies do not have lower values, rather they have higher social virtues — where ignorance is replaced by understanding

Confidentiality is not secrecy; Nor does confidentiality create executive privilege against Parliament

It is to reconstruct, from contemporary publications themselves, a remarkable intellectual dialogue that unfolded

The first part of this series suggested that an important chapter in the intellectual history of the Pakistan Movement remains insufficiently explored. While political negotiations between the British Government, the Congress and the Muslim League have received exhaustive scholarly attention, the contemporaneous debate between Tarjuman-ul-Qur’an and Tolu-e-Islam over the religious legitimacy of Pakistan has rarely been reconstructed as an independent historical narrative. That proposition naturally raises an important question. If such a debate existed, why has it remained largely absent from mainstream histories? Part of the answer lies in the way the history of Partition has traditionally been written. Historians have understandably concentrated upon constitutional negotiations, provincial elections, the Lahore Resolution, the Cabinet Mission, Mountbatten’s Plan, communal violence and the transfer of power. These were the events that determined the political destiny of the subcontinent. Yet ideas have their own history. Ideas do not emerge in a vacuum. They are debated, defended, criticised and refined through books, speeches, correspondence and journals. Political history records decisions; intellectual history explains why those decisions became conceivable. The pages of Tarjuman-ul-Qur’an and Tolu-e-Islam therefore deserve to be read not merely as religious publications but as historical documents reflecting competing conceptions of Muslim political identity on the eve of Partition. Before Pakistan appeared on the map, it first had to be defended in the realm of ideas. Political arguments alone could not persuade Muslims who believed that territorial nationalism conflicted with Islam or that the Muslim League lacked the religious credentials to establish an Islamic polity. Muhammad Ali Jinnah understood this challenge better than many of his contemporaries. Contrary to later caricatures, he neither sought to establish a government controlled by religious scholars (theocracy) nor dismissed religion as irrelevant to public life. Throughout his political career, Jinnah remained a constitutional lawyer committed to representative institutions, legislative supremacy and the rule of law. He knew, however, that constitutional arguments alone would not persuade Muslims whose reservations were rooted in their understanding of Islam rather than constitutional law. The Pakistan Movement therefore required not merely political leadership but also intellectual engagement. At the same time, he recognised that the Muslim League’s political programme required an intellectual response to religious objections being advanced in influential sections of the Urdu press. Revisiting Pakistan’s fiscal federalism Why Study History? An Intellectual Dialogue with Historian Dr. Rai Shabbir Ahmed!” Pakistan’s $55 Billion Addiction Education and SDG4: Sindh’s Progress Amid Persistent Challenges It is in this context that Ghulam Ahmad Parwez assumes historical importance. Parwez was neither a traditional alim (scholar) nor a politician seeking public office. He belonged to a generation of educated Muslims shaped by both classical Islamic learning and modern administrative experience. As a civil servant under the British Government and a serious student of the Qur’an, he occupied an unusual intellectual position. G A Parwez sought neither clerical authority nor secular indifference to religion. Instead, he attempted to explain Islam through reason, social justice and constitutional government. This explains why the relationship between Jinnah and Parwez deserves closer historical attention than it has generally received. Among the documents reproduced in Tehreek-i-Pakistan Key Gumshuda Auraq: Tehreek-i-Pakistan aur Parwez is Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s letter of June 14, 1947, thanking G A Parwez for his communication and requesting him to suggest suitable persons who could become, in Jinnah’s own words, “the real servants of our future Secretariat”. Whatever interpretation one ultimately places upon this correspondence, it demonstrates direct engagement between the leader of the Muslim League and an unconventional, Quran-centred intellectual at one of the most decisive moments in South Asian history. That document alone invites further historical investigation. The significance of G A Parwez, however, does not rest upon a single letter. It rests upon the pages of Tolu-e-Islam. The Pakistan Movement did not confront a single religious opposition. Some scholars opposed Pakistan because they regarded composite Indian nationalism as compatible with Islam. Others rejected territorial nationalism altogether as an alien Western doctrine. Still others doubted whether the Muslim League possessed either the leadership or programme necessary for an Islamic polity. These were distinct objections requiring distinct answers. The importance of Tolu-e-Islam lies in its attempt to answer each of them separately rather than treating “the ulema” as a single undifferentiated body. The Pakistan Movement was criticised from several religious perspectives. Some scholars rejected the very idea of Muslim territorial nationalism. Others argued that the Muslim League’s leadership lacked sufficient Islamic commitment. Still others insisted that an Islamic state could emerge only through an organised religious movement rather than through constitutional politics. These were serious intellectual objections. They required serious intellectual answers. Tolu-e-Islam attempted to provide them. Its significance lies not in claiming final authority but in preserving a contemporaneous record of arguments advanced in defence of Pakistan from within a Qur’anic framework. The journal repeatedly addressed objections raised in Tarjuman-ul-Qur’an, creating what appears to have been one of the most sustained intellectual exchanges of the Pakistan Movement. This series does not ask readers to accept Parwez’s conclusions or that of Maulana Abu’Ala Maududi. On the contrary, both deserve to be read in their own words. Only then can we appreciate that the controversy was not between believers and non-believers, nor between religion and politics. It was not even a disagreement between two intellectuals, but among many influential Muslim thinkers over the meaning of Islam, nationhood, sovereignty and the future political destiny of the Muslims of India. The next article will therefore allow the documents to speak for themselves. Rather than beginning with our conclusions, we shall reconstruct the debate chronologically by reproducing the principal arguments advanced in Tarjuman-ul-Qur’an and the corresponding replies published in Tolu-e-Islam between 1938 and 1947. Readers may then judge for themselves whether this forgotten conversation deserves a more prominent place in the intellectual history of Pakistan. [To be continued] ____________________________________________________________________ Dr. Ikramul Haq, Advocate Supreme Court, Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), member Advisory Board and Visiting Senior Fellow of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), holds an LLD in tax

The World Bank’s recent publication [Strengthening Fiscal Federalism in Pakistan] has revived an important debate on the effectiveness of Pakistan’s fiscal framework in the wake of Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 [18th Amendment]. Rather than questioning the principle of provincial autonomy, the report examines whether Pakistan’s fiscal institutions have evolved in a manner that allows both the federation and the federating units to discharge their constitutional responsibilities efficiently. The World Bank report concludes that though the constitutional transition towards decentralization has largely been completed on paper, the accompanying fiscal architecture has not kept pace with the redistribution of responsibilities, resulting in persistent structural differences that continue to place pressure on Pakistan’s public finances. The 18th Amendment remains one of the most significant constitutional reforms in Pakistan’s history. The amendment fundamentally altered the relationship between the centre and the provinces by devolving numerous subjects, including education, health, agriculture, social welfare, rural development and several regulatory functions, to provincial governments. The amendment also reinforced the constitutional position of local governments, strengthened intergovernmental coordination mechanisms and sought to establish a more balanced federal structure that reflected Pakistan’s diverse political and administrative realities. The amendment represented a broad political consensus that greater provincial autonomy would improve governance, enhance accountability and enable public services to be delivered closer to the people. The constitutional framework supporting fiscal federalism extends beyond the National Finance Commission, Seventh National Finance Commission Award [7th NFC Award] and even18th Amendment itself. Articles 153 and 154 of the Constitution designate the Council of Common Interests as the principal institution responsible for resolving disputes relating to subjects shared between the centre and the provinces. Article 156 of the Constitution establishes the National Economic Council as the country’s highest forum for national economic planning and coordination, whereas Article 160 provides the constitutional basis for the National Finance Commission, which determines the distribution of taxes (divisible) pool revenues between the Federation and the provinces. Why Study History? An Intellectual Dialogue with Historian Dr. Rai Shabbir Ahmed!” Pakistan’s $55 Billion Addiction Education and SDG4: Sindh’s Progress Amid Persistent Challenges The Preparation Paradox: Why Potential Alone Is Not Enough Similarly, Article 167 of the Constitution further regulates provincial borrowing, however, Article 164 provides a constitutional mechanism through which provinces may make grants to the Federation under specified circumstances. Constitutional design therefore envisages a cooperative model of fiscal federalism based on consultation, coordination and shared responsibility rather than institutional competition. The implementation of these constitutional reforms was accompanied by 7th NFC Award, which substantially increased the provincial share in federally collected revenues. The award represented a historic redistribution of fiscal resources and significantly strengthened provincial financial capacity. The expectation was that as provinces assumed responsibility for devolved functions, the federal government’s administrative footprint and expenditure obligations would reduce correspondingly. The constitutional logic underlying both the amendment and the 7th NFC Award was straightforward. The functions would move to the provinces, the resources would follow those functions, and the federal government would focus primarily on national responsibilities including defense, foreign affairs, macroeconomic management, debt servicing and matters requiring national coordination. The World Bank report argues that though financial resources were successfully transferred, expenditure responsibilities were never fully realigned. The financing moved, but many functions remained partially or entirely within the federal administrative structure. The result has been the development of a persistent vertical fiscal inequality in which the Federation continues to finance responsibilities despite receiving a declining share of overall revenues after NFC transfers. The report identifies this mismatch as one of the principal structural weaknesses of Pakistan’s current fiscal framework. The fiscal outcomes presented in the report provide considerable evidence supporting this assessment. The overall revenue collection of Pakistan has remained largely stagnant for more than a decade despite repeated foreign-funded tax reforms. The 7th NFC Award envisaged federal tax revenue reaching 13.25 percent of GDP by fiscal year (FY) 2015 and provincial tax revenue increasing to 1.15 percent of GDP during the same period. The actual outcomes fell significantly short of these targets. The Federal Board of Revenue increased federal tax collection from approximately 7.9 percent of GDP in FY2009 to only 8.5 percent in FY2015 and approximately 8.8 percent by FY2024 and less than 11 percent both in FY2025 and FY2026. The provincial governments recorded comparatively faster growth in own-source revenues, but provincial tax collection increased only from around 0.3 percent of GDP to approximately 0.7 percent of GDP during the same period, well below the intended target. In FY 2025, it was 0.9% of GDP. The stagnation becomes even more significant when viewed in the broader context of Pakistan’s fiscal capacity. The total national revenue, including both tax and non-tax receipts, averaged only around 12.5 percent of GDP between FY2009 and FY2024. The figure remains considerably lower than many comparable developing economies. It reached 15.7 percent of GDP in FY 2025. The World Bank notes that Pakistan’s average tax-to-GDP ratio during FY 2010-2025 stood at approximately 9.9 percent, compared with 10.3 percent for Indonesia, 12.6 percent for Egypt and Mexico, 14.3 percent for Vietnam, 16.8 percent for India and 17.5 percent for Türkiye. The comparison demonstrates that Pakistan’s fiscal challenge is not merely the distribution of revenue between different tiers of government, but the overall inability of the state to mobilize sufficient domestic resources. The report further observes that though total revenue remained largely stagnant, transfers from the centre to the provinces increased substantially after implementation of the 7th NFC Award. The average NFC transfers increased from approximately 3.2 percent of GDP during FY2002-09 to around 5.1 percent of GDP during FY2010-24. In FY 2025, it was Rs. 9946.703 billion (8.7 of GDP). The federal government’s net revenues after these transfers consequently declined from approximately 4.7 percent of GDP to around 4.2 percent of GDP. The shift significantly adjusted the fiscal position of both tiers of government and increased pressure on the federal budget. The widening fiscal disparity has been compounded by expenditure patterns that have moved in the opposite direction from those originally

The next article will examine the principal objections raised by Maulana Maududi against the Muslim League and Pakistan, followed immediately

Pakistan were themselves transformed by Pakistan’s own constitutional experience after 1947. That inquiry belongs to the next series—Pakistan

It began much earlier—in competing ideas of India, nationhood, sovereignty, democracy and political community. Recovering that history