Published on, Sept. 19 -- September 19, 2025 8:23 PM

When Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari stood in Karachi last month, urging the government to issue a new NFC Award, he touched the fault line that has quietly hollowed the federation. For now, the 11th NFC, constituted earlier this year, has been deferred at Sindh's request, quite understandable given the province's struggles with fresh floodwaters and relentless monsoon devastation. But the delay cannot obscure the deeper malaise: Pakistan continues to operate on the 7th NFC Award of 2009, a formula crafted for a very different country.

The 7th Award was rightly hailed for moving beyond population as the sole criterion, adding poverty, revenue effort, and inverse...