JUI-F APC rejects changes in 18th Amend, NFC

PESHAWAR: The leaders of different opposition parties Saturday strongly condemned the government's reported efforts to make changes in the 18th Constitutional Amendment and National Finance Commission at a time when the whole nation was passing through the most difficult situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

They declared at an All Parties Leaders Conference held in Peshawar that the bid to amend the laws that have ensured provincial autonomy were aimed at sabotaging national solidarity,

The conference was convened by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and presided over by the party chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman.

The conference was attended by Central President of Qaumi Watan Party and former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Murtaza Javed Abbasi, deputy chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan and its provincial head Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, provincial president of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Humayun Khan, parliamentary leader of Awami National Party (ANP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Sardar Hussain Babak, Mukhtar Yousafzai of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP), general secretary of JUI-F Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and his party fellow Senator Maulana Ataur Rahman and others. A joint declaration adopted on the occasion termed the current Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government as a production of rigging and illegal. It claimed that this government has proved its incapability due to its poor performance during the two years of its rule.

"This government has no right to make changes in the immensely important 18th amendment. Such an effort would do away with the parliamentary and democratic spirit of the constitution," the declaration stated.

Also, it noted that the matter of new NFC was under trial in the court and, therefore, the government should not make any decision in this regard that could create further unrest among the provinces.