Center-Sindh Relations in Pakistan after the 18th Amendment: Anatomy of Executive Federalism Under the PTI Government 2018–2022

This article examines the practice of Center-Province interaction in Pakistan by analyzing intergovernmental relations (IGR) between the federal (i.e., Center) and Sindh provincial governments. It focuses on the period when the Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaaf (PTI) was in power at the Center (i.e., 2018–2022). Analyzing executive federalism and provincial governments is an understudied area of research in Pakistan. I provide an overview of the emerging literature on IGR and map out the institutional architecture of federalism in Pakistan. I pay special attention to platforms for managing Center-Province conflict, especially the Council of Common Interests (CCI). I then trace the trajectory of provincial autonomy in Sindh in the context of Pakistan’s centralized federation. My focus is on the impact of 2010 18th Amendment on regional power and the management of executive relations. I explore the critical issues of discord between the federal government of the PTI and the provincial one of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Sindh. My analysis reflects continuing dominance of the Center and its linkage with party politics in the framework of executive interactions between governments at the two levels, characterized by a significant differential in their authority. I argue that constitutional devolution needs to be cushioned by a corresponding decentralization of powers to provinces like Sindh in the administrative and financial sectors.