PPP’s multi-party conference decides against making changes in 18th amendment

A multi-party conference (MPC) organised in Karachi by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday resolved that Sindh would not compromise at all on the issues of protecting the 18th constitutional amendment, provincial autonomy, and the province’s fiscal and economic rights as enshrined in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.

Chaired by PPP Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and attended by representatives of 18 different political parties, the MPC resolved that Sindh would never withdraw from its fiscal, political and administrative rights as enshrined in the constitution.

The MPC was held at the Banquet Hall of the Chief Minister House and was also addressed by CM Syed Murad Ali Shah, who briefed its participants about the current locust and COVID-19 emergencies as well as about the fiscal issues of the province.

The MPC resolved that any attempt to weaken or alter the 18th amendment would be detrimental to the cause of national unity, as making any such move would not be a wise step at all.

The meeting was of the unanimous viewpoint that the federal government did not like much the concept of the 18th amendment and did not want to see the provinces getting strong in terms of their economic, political and administrative functions.

The MPC through the resolutions passed on the occasion termed the passage of the 18th constitutional amendment a historical achievement of the Parliament of Pakistan much like the historic moment of the adoption of the 1973 Constitution.

The meeting said that the passage of the 18th amendment had gone a long way in resolving the issues of provincial autonomy and striking a balance between Centre-provinces ties, while it had also empowered the parliament and the office of the prime minister.

The MPC said that owing to the national state of emergency due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the country required solidarity, unity and cohesion more than it had at any point in the country’s history. The meeting demanded that the settled political issues related to national history should not be rendered controversial once again. The conference was of the viewpoint that the federal government did not at all like the concept of provincial autonomy and the provinces securing economic strength, which was why an attempt was being made to alter the 18th amendment so as to weaken the economies of the provinces.

The meeting expressed apprehension that the concept of provincial autonomy included in the 18th amendment was being rolled back so as to restore the centralised system of governance in the country with no or limited powers given to the provincial governments.

Media talk

Briefing the media after the hours-long MPC, Khuhro said the conference had resolved that the meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) should be convened every three months in accordance with the provisions of the constitution so as to resolve the pending issues between the Centre and the provinces so that the latter could secure their due constitutional rights.

He said the MPC had rejected the recent forming of the NFC by the federal government as well as the terms of reference for its proceedings. He added that the conference had demanded that the Centre reconstitute the NFC in accordance with the provisions of the constitution after consulting with the provinces.

Khuhro said the MPC had demanded that the new NFC Award be announced by the federal government at the earliest, and that the fiscal share of the provinces in it be increased in accordance with the constitution instead of slashing it.

He said the conference had condemned the move of the federal government to sack 9,350 employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), and urged the Centre to immediately withdraw its decision.

He added that the conference was of the viewpoint that any decision regarding the privatisation of the PSM should be taken at the forum of the CCI in accordance with the directives of the apex judiciary.

Khuhro said the MPC urged both the federal and provincial governments to take whatever steps were required to save people from COVID-19, adding that all such decisions should be implemented on an emergency basis for the sake of human lives.

He said that the conference was of the viewpoint that if necessary, the federal and provincial governments should take stringent and unpopular decisions to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.

He also said the MPC called upon the federal and provincial governments, and the National Disaster Management Authority to take emergency steps to tackle the looming locust emergency in the country that could devastate the agriculture sector and cause food insecurity in the country.

Khuhro said that although there had been an alarming increase in cases of coronavirus infections in the country, the federal government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seemed confused and lacked any concrete strategy to tackle the persisting health emergency in the country.

He said the Centre did not know whether it should go ahead with a full-fledged lockdown or impose a smart lockdown against local transmission of the virus.

Prominent among the political leaders who attended the MPC were Khawaja Izharul Hassan and Muhammad Hussain of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Shah Muhammad Shah of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shabbir Qaimkhani of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), Maulana Rashid Mahmood Soomro of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F); Mumtaz Hussain Sehto of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Mufti Qasim Fakhri of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, Dr Qadir Magsi of the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party. Leaders of the Awami National Party, the Sunni Tehreek, the PML-Quaid and other parties were also present.

No benefit

The MQM-P leaders claimed that the PPP-led Sindh government had kept all the powers under the guise of the 18th amendment. They said that without implementing Article 140-A of the constitution, the 18th amendment is incomplete.

“Without empowering the local bodies in the real sense, there’s no benefit of the 18th amendment,” they said in their dissenting notes, adding that the amendment, in fact, led to the accumulation of powers instead of the devolution of powers.

They said the PPP government had occupied all the resources and was not serious about redressing people’s grievances. “We demand that the provincial finance commission [PFC] be set up immediately.”

They also expressed displeasure over the fact that the PTI, one of the two major opposition parties in Sindh, was not invited to the MPC, and termed the act undemocratic.

Autonomy

PSP’s national council members Qaimkhani and Syed Hafeezuddin, in accordance with their party’s policy, submitted two dissenting notices, saying that the PSP did not agree with the PPP’s stance on the 18th amendment.

They elaborated that the PSP wanted to make it mandatory for the provinces to issue the PFC Award for the districts in the same manner in which the provinces received the NFC Award from the federal government, and just as provinces had provincial autonomy, districts and cities should also be given autonomy.

“Until the powers and resources are devolved to the lowest level, the fruits of the 18th amendment can’t be reaped by ordinary citizens of Pakistan,” they said. In the second dissenting note, the PSP leaders demanded that the PPP ensure keeping its promise of investigating irregularities in the last census.

Empowerment

JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said his party would support the 18th amendment and the NFC Award if cities and their local government bodies were financially empowered.

“The Sindh Building Control Authority, the Karachi Development Authority, the Lyari Development Authority and the Malir Development Authority should be given under Karachi,” he added. He also said that the federation should avoid playing politics on the 18th amendment and the NFC Award.

Bad performance

JUI-F Sindh General Secretary Soomro expressed his party’s reservations over the Sindh government’s allegedly bad performance in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. He also said that there was no use of struggle for constitutional rights when the powers had not been transferred to grassroots level.

Soomro said that his party would not allow anyone to change the 18th amendment. “After the passage of the 18th amendment, 15 departments have been devolved to the provinces, but funds have not increased in the past 15 years,” he said.

“It’s shameful that residents of the urban and the rural parts of the province can’t even find vaccines for dog bites and snake bites,” he added.

He claimed that flawed policies, rampant corruption and bad governance had ruined all government departments, cities and towns of the province. “It’s strange that the rulers are tight-lipped over the deteriorating law and order situation, the skyrocketing prices, the murder of merit, and the paucity of health and educational facilities.”