PPP won’t let provinces be financially weakened to reward centre: Khuhro

Sindh PPP President Senator Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has said his party will foil the conspiracy being hatched to roll back the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the constitutional concept of provincial autonomy, and decrease the share of the provinces in the NFC award.

Talking to media persons in Karachi on Thursday, he said certain drawing room-based politicians indulged in the intrigue to weaken the provinces by decreasing their shares in the NFC award and withdrawing the 18th Amendment.

Khuhro said any attempt to weaken the provinces and strengthen the centre should be regarded as a conspiracy against the Constitution of 1973. He said the constitution adopted during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s regime guaranteed the concept of provincial autonomy.

He said former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan both believed that provincial autonomy was responsible for the bankruptcy of the federal government. He said the strengthening of the provinces stood for the strengthening of the federation.

The PPP leader said certain influential quarters had been attempting to weaken the provinces to strengthen the centre economically. He was of the view that trampling upon the constitutional rights of the provinces was tantamount to weakening the democratic system of the country.

He recalled that during the tenure of former president Asif Ali Zardari, the provinces were given a 57 per cent share in the NFC award while a 43 per cent portion was reserved for the centre. He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz like PTI leader Imran Khan wanted to curtail the shares of the provinces in the NFC award for strengthening the federation. He said the curtailment of the shares of the provinces would also financially weaken Punjab.

Khuhor said the PPP would foil all such conspiracies on the basis of its strength derived from the masses of the country. He claimed that the constitution didn’t allow slashing the provinces’ share in the NFC award to reward the centre. He argued that Sindh accounted for up to 70 per cent of taxes collected for the national exchequer so it shouldn’t be deprived of its constitutional share in the NFC award.