Pakistan: Rabbani hits out at Abbasi’s remarks

The author of the landmark 18th Amendment, Senator Raza Rabbani on Sunday criticised the recent statement of federal Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in which he had hinted at the ‘rollback’ of the amendment and proposed to bring change in article 158 of the constitution. “We strongly condemn the minister’s statement to rollback the 18th amendment and proposal to amend the constitution’s article 158, which pertains to distribution of gas among the provinces,” Mr Rabbani said at a press conference at the Qasr-i-Naz. “It appears that after having elected a `one-unit’ president, the PML-N is now talking of rolling back the 18th amendment, which granted autonomy to the provinces,” he said. He said the petroleum minister was unaware of the fact that article 158 had not been amended by the 18th amendment and in fact, it was in its original form since 1973. “Therefore, when he talks about amending the 18th amendment and article 158, he is talking of undoing the natural consensus first built in 1973 and then in 2010 when the 18th amendment was passed,” he said. Mr Rabbani said the minister ‘must realise’ that the national consensus ‘cannot be undone’ by a party, which had almost no representation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh. “This demand of amending article 158 is not for the working class of Punjab but to promote crony capitalism, i.e. of those who supported the PML-N during the election as is evident from the pay-off given to their supporters in the circular debt.”He said the government’s order to the Sui Southern to give 110 million cubic feet (mcf) of gas to Sui Northern instead of 90mcf was unconstitutional according to article 158, and called for its withdrawal. Similarly, he pointed out, the creation of the planning commission into a ministry was also unconstitutional as it had assumed the role of the National Economic Council under article 156 of the constitution. “This is a violation and the planning commission be restored to its original position.” Senator Rabbani said the article 172 of the constitution continued to be violated as 50 per cent ownership of oil and gas companies had been shifted to the provinces but the same had not been implemented. Mr Rabbani, who is additional secretary general of PPP and its parliamentary leader in the Senate, said the ministries of education and health in the federal government were in violation of the constitution after the abolition of the Concurrent List. “The rules of business of the federal government be amended immediately,” he said. The senator described as unconstitutional the task force established by the federal government on curriculum, so was the federal government’s letter written to the provinces on action planned on education. He said all task forces established in the health department at the federal level should be disbanded. “The PPP wanted to give this government a honeymoon period of 100 days and not make such demands (before that), but this attack on provincial autonomy has forced us to do so,” he said. He said that immediately after Eid, his party would contact all the political parties on the question of provincial autonomy. Besides, the party would get in touch with those ‘elements’ in the PML-N who were architects of the 18th amendment ‘like Ishaq Dar and Mehtab Abbasi’. He said the PPP would contact all the chief ministers to apprise them of the situation and consult the opposition parties in the Senate to requisition a session after Eid on the question of provincial autonomy. “We hope that after Eid when the provincial assemblies of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will meet, they will register their protest on this issue,” Mr Rabbani said.