Empowered by the 18th Amendment with fiscal heft and autonomy, Sindh province ironically exemplifies Pakistan’s governance breakdowns and provincial disregard, as detailed in the latest ‘Household Integrated Economic Survey 2024-25’ via The Express Tribune.
Sanitation scandals: 14% households toilet-less, exceeding Balochistan (12%) and far from Punjab-KP (5%). Villages depend perilously on hand pumps for potable water.
Literacy lags Punjab by 10%; 40% school-age kids sidelined; vaccinations cover merely two-thirds, Punjab hits 79%. Political continuity—one party victorious four times—only heightens the shame.
National progress falters without provincial parity, the report asserts emphatically.
Lahore’s Friday Times weighs in, advocating provincial revenue autonomy to shrink federal gaps. Constitutional Article 161(1)(a,b) pledges—Balochistan gas levies, KP hydro net gains—lie dormant. Meager 7th NFC sales tax portions (9% Balochistan, 15% KP) ignore resource riches.
Sindh suffers analogously. Post-amendment taxing rights on assets, property capital gains, gifts, inheritances exist, but elite-sparing politics at center and province ensures fiscal paralysis.