Background
In accordance with the Constituent Assembly (CA) Rules, the CA formed a 43 member thematic Committee for State Restructuring and the Distribution of State Power (CSRDSP or Thematic Committee) in December 2008. The CSRDSP’s mandate was to submit a proposal on a federal structure, including principles for determining federal units, their inter-relationships and mechanisms to settle any dispute that may arise between such federal units.
In January 2010, the CSRDSP submitted its report to the CA proposing 14 provinces. Two years later, the names, numbers and boundaries of the federal units are still among the most contentious issues being discussed between the political parties. Most recently, new options have been proposed by a State Restructuring Commission (SRC).
The 2010 Thematic Committee report also suggested that autonomous regions, special zones and protected areas be established as special structures within the provinces. This concept appears to have been retained in the ‘majority report’ of the recent SRC although not apparently in the ‘minority report’. This Field Bulletin is based on a visit to the Byash region end December 2011 to better understand how these ideas were viewed at the field level in one of the potential ‘autonomous regions’ identified in successive reports.