Pakistan, Oct. 4 -- When Senator Yusuf Raza Gilani says that "policies must be devised through consultation," he is not preaching democratic virtue. He is diagnosing Pakistan's deepest disease: a state that has turned bypassing consultation into its governing creed. What we are watching unfold, from Punjab's unilateral canal projects to Sindh's angry walkouts, is not just a spat between two coalition partners. It is the steady dismantling of the very process that binds this federation together.

Punjab insists it has every right to push forward its water projects. Sindh protests that its rights have been trampled. In principle, the Council of Common Interests exists to arbitrate exactly such disputes, but in practice, it has been reduced ...