Amendment talk

There has been a consistent buzz regarding the 18th Constitutional Amendment that has been in force for the past 10 years. The National Assembly of Pakistan passed it in 2010 under the PPP government, and it had the widest possible support from all major political parties. The amendment duly curtailed the powers of the president as well the central government as a whole. The devolution of power from the centre to the provinces was a landmark decision which resulted in a better allocation of financial resources to the federating units. This amendment, inter alia, removed the power of the president of Pakistan to dissolve parliament unilaterally. Before this amendment, we had seen Pakistan vacillate between a semi-presidential and a parliamentary system. Military dictators such as General Pervez Musharraf and before him General Ziaul Haq had amassed sweeping powers under the presidency, which itself was forcefully usurped.

General Ziaul Haq forced the notorious 8th Amendment on his party-less assembly in the mid-1980s and mutilated the 1973 constitution with a semi-presidential system, which Nawaz Sharif reversed with the 13th Amendment. Gen Musharraf once again went back to the semi-presidential system with the 17th Amendment. All this is important to recall because Pakistan has had a checkered constitutional history and has already seen too many constitutional uncertainties and political instability resulting from constitutional maneuvering by undemocratic forces. That instability was considerably eased after the 18th Amendment. It was also a unique development in the history of Pakistan when a president relinquished his powers willingly and transferred them to parliament and the office of the prime minister. Partly, thanks to this amendment two democratically elected parliaments completed their tenure in the history of Pakistan from 2008 to 2018. This democratic change itself is a major achievement.

There are some other democratic and provincial rights that have been guaranteed by this amendment, so it is neither advisable nor beneficial for this country and for democracy to attempt to tinker with something that has ensured a better federation that has been functioning well for over ten years now. The tendency of pressure being placed on some federating units these days must be avoided. The federal government has a great responsibility on its shoulders in the face of multiple crises in the country. The least we can afford now is this repeated controversy about the 18th Amendment.