‘Controversial’ changes to Constitution will destabilise federation, warns Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Alarmed by what he described as casual chatter over new constitutional amendments, former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has said the functionaries of the federal government and some political parties were talking about constitutional amendments, as if they are shopping in a Sunday Bazaar .

In a statement issued on Wednesday, he said: The Constitution, 1973, up to and including the 18th Amendment, is a consensus document, agreed upon by the provinces and political parties in Parliament.

Rabbani warned that any attempt to destabilise this consensus, by a patchwork of controversial constitutional amendments will have a disastrous effect on the federation .

The internal fault lines are sharp and many, and any attempt, as a cause of political expediency, to further amend the Constitution, 1973, on a wholesale basis will erode the sanctity of the document, he said, adding: This will give rise to political fortune hunters, to raise new political agendas that will throw the federation into an era of constitutional instability.

Rabbani opined that this constitutional instability will be far graver than the political instability being faced. A combination of the two instabilities will spell chaos, the former chairman Senate said.