ISLAMABAD: PPP stalwart and former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani on Tuesday said the recently proposed changes to the Constitution, if passed, would amount to a rollback of the much-touted 18th Amendment.
Yesterday, the ruling party PML-N’s coalition partner PPP revealed it had been approached by the government for its support in passing a 27th Constitutional Amendment. The key features were heavily criticised by lawyers and politicians, who termed them an attempt to revoke provincial rights granted in the 18th Amendment.
“The proposed constitutional amendments of the federal government, with reference to provincial autonomy, amount to a rollback of the 18th Amendment,” Rabbani said in a statement.
The 18th Amendment, passed in 2010, had allayed provinces’ concerns by devolving several ministries and departments from the Centre to them, including education and population.
“In the brittle internal political situation, playing with provincial autonomy will cast deep shadows over the federation,” the veteran politician warned.
Noting that the 18th Amendment “disarmed the extreme nationalists of a political discourse”, Rabbani said the suggested changes will “lend vigour to their extra-constitutional activities”.
The PPP leader also highlighted that revisiting devolved ministries will be a “financial burden” on the federal government. “Recalling the financial devolution will be against the scheme [of] participatory federalism,” he added.
“If the federal government is unable to manage its finances, then let the provinces collect all the taxes and look after federal expenditures through the Council of Common Interests,” the former senator proposed.
Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik has confirmed that discussions regarding the amendment had been and were still ongoing, but added that the government has not properly started working on a draft.
Even as recently as December 2023, various senior PPP leaders opposed revoking or altering the guarantees brought by the 18th Amendment — a party stance placing it against that of the PML-N.
During the past several years, Rabbani — a PPP senator when the 18th Amendment was passed — has repeatedly voiced strong objection to making any changes in the laws introduced in it.
In 2019, he accused the PTI government of conspiring to roll back the 18th Amendment, which he stressed ensured provincial autonomy.
Back in 2015, the PPP senator was in tears after voting in the Upper House of the parliament on the 21st Amendment for setting up military courts in the country, saying he voted in its favour against his own conscience.
