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Friday March 29, 2024

Institutions have to stop meddling in affairs of each other: Rabbani

By Azeem Samar
November 05, 2017

KARACHI: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani has said that the 'establishment' was conspiring to snatch the rights derived from the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

All is not right, he said, adding that the institutions have to stop interference in each others' affairs.

“Interfering in each other’s work on unconstitutional basis will create dire situation for the country as every institution is required to work within the Constitution which is the supreme law,” said the Senate chairman.

He was addressing a seminar on challenges being faced in implementing the laws related to the provincial autonomy in the post-18th  Amendment scenario here Saturday. The Senate chairman said rumours were doing rounds regarding a government of technocrats getting installed. He said the Constitution has no provision for such a government. He said 2018 is the year of transfer of power therefore it is imperative that the elections take place in time for sake of continuity of democracy.

 “My heart bleeds whenever I hear about any unconstitutional step. We have to decide once and for all whether Parliament or someone else is supreme,” Rabbani said. He said implementation on the 18th Amendment is being rendered impossible through unconstitutional steps. The Council of Common Interests (CCI) is not being used in the right manner. He said the sessions of the CCI are not being convened in time, while the decisions taken by the CCI are later endorsed by the cabinet despite that the Constitution has no such provision, he said.  The provinces have been denied the new  National Finance Commission award for  the last three years and the new award looks unlikely in the near future, he said.

The Senate chairman said the provincial budgets were curtailed during the era of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf despite that out of 14 points of Quaid-e-Azam, four were related to provincial autonomy. He said the teachings of Quaid-e-Azam are not being remembered as the Founder of the Nation had given the message of
Faith to the countrymen. He said an amendment had been inserted in Article 6 of the Constitution to block martial laws in future.

The Senate chairman said the state would  face grave consequences if any attempt is  made to do away with the 18th  Amendment.

He said  no society could survive without accountability and added  the  Senators would   go through the process of accountability. He said two days ago a committee was formed by the Senate to conduct  accountability where the senators would present themselves for  accountability.

He said Pervez Musharraf  escaped from the country and it is unfortunate that the state could not pursue the case against the former military rule. He said the army achieved major successes against non-state actors. He said the school going children were not being taught history in the right manner as they were being motivated to wage war. Arab culture is not Islamic hence it could not be introduced here in Pakistan, he said.  He said there is nothing  wrong if Punjab wants to make Bhagat Singh part of the curriculum as he had struggled against the British colonial rulers.