Pakistan 18th Amendment : Evoking dangerous controversy

Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi yesterday back-tracked on Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment, despite sounding stupendously tough 48 hours ago. The minister had evoked a considerable controversy by stating that the government is going to review the Eighteenth Amendment with a view to amending gas-sharing arrangement between the provinces. Senator Raza Rabbani, the head of the parliamentary committee that authored the Eighteenth Amendment with a consensus condemned the statement and ridiculed Abbassi by pointing out that the relevant Article 158 had not been amended in the Eighteenth Amendment. Fazlur Rehman, the chief of JUI (F), had also deplored Abbassi's statement and noted that it appears that like the past the government is defending Punjab's interest, which is creating insecurity in other provinces. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also castigated the minister's statement. Three statements of fact are required to be brought to the notice of the Petroleum Minister or whosoever is nursing any doubts about the profundity of this historic constitutional amendment without any further loss of time. First and foremost as broadly hinted at by Raza Rabbani the Eighteenth Amendment focused on unravelling the interventions to the constitution by successive military dictators who had gone to the appalling extent of even mentioning their names in the document. No other original clause of the constitution was touched upon by the Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment Committee as it would have been tantamount to compromising the original spirit of the drafters of the constitution. Second, harmony between provinces has eroded on a continuous basis with the passage of time. The fact that one federating unit namely Punjab constitutes the majority of the federation may well be one of the causes but certainly not the cause of inter-provincial disharmony that threatens to rock the federation. The 7th National Finance Commission Award did go some way in reducing the respective weight previously accorded to population in the federal divisible pool, and more to poverty/backwardness (10.3 percent) and revenue collection source (5 percent); however, Khaqan Abbassi's statement has refuelled concerns that Punjab is gung-ho zealot or overly zealous towards its strategy aimed at brow-beating smaller provinces of their constitutionally granted share of gas. Article 158 of the constitution states - clearly and unambiguously - that "the province in which a well-head is situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting the requirements from that well-head subject to the commitments and obligations as on the commencing day." Abbassi and all other Doubting Thomases should not need reminding that one of the major grouse of Baloch insurgents is their legitimate contention that the province is the most undeveloped in spite of being the richest in natural resources. The situation had, therefore, warranted the insertion of a new clause in the Article 172 (through the 18th Amendment): "(3) Subject to the existing commitments and obligations, mineral oil and natural gas within the Province or the territorial waters adjacent thereto shall vest jointly and equally in that Province and the Federal Government." Thirdly, PML (N) was a party to the Eighteenth Amendment, all parties in parliament at the time were taken on board, and Abbassi's recent statement is being interpreted as the party's intent to push through an amendment by cobbling a two-thirds majority through fair means or foul that is required to amend the constitution. In this instance, however, one would sincerely hope that the ruling party acts more responsibly and seeks to form a consensus before embarking on an amendment that would simply further exacerbate provincial tensions. Additionally, one would hope that Abbassi's statement is one made by a maverick in the party though given the controversy it has generated it has become essential for the party leadership to distance itself from what he said. The PML (N) would do well to remember that during the 1990s when it had a two-third majority in the national assembly it supported the passage of the thirteenth and fourteenth constitutional amendments - the former took away the President's powers to dissolve the assemblies while the latter granted powers to the party leader that made the passage of a vote of no-confidence against him virtually impossible. Musharraf did away with these two amendments which enabled him to rule for almost a decade and which were restored with a consensus with the passage of Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment in 2010 by a civilian government. PML (N) would be well advised to seek a consensus before the party attempts to amend the constitution any further because that way alone lies provincial harmony - a necessary ingredient for the country to effectively tackle the myriad problems it faces today. Last but not least, Petroleum Minister Abbassi seeks to clarify his position by stating, inter alia, that he had told the media persons that his party never stated at the recent CCI meeting that the 18th Amendment would be reviewed, but his highly controversial statement has evoked a dangerous controversy nevertheless.