PPP leader warns against bid to roll back 18th Amendment

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) provincial president Humayun Khan has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government wants to change the unanimous Constitution given to the nation by his late party chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, he said the rulers were trying to roll back the 18th Amendment to usurp the rights of Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. He said the PPP would not allow anyone to amend the Constitution and deprive the federating units of their rights. The PPP leader said that the federation would be strengthened if the federating units would be strong but the present “selected” prime minister wanted to abolish 18th Amendment. He warned of dire serious issues if any attempt was made to amend the Constitution. Humayun Khan believed the federal government wanted to sabotage the performance of the Sindh government instead of doing practical work for the welfare of people. This, he said, was the first time in the history of Pakistan that a prime minister and federal government were announcing irrelevance of the provinces. He said 18th Amendment empowers the provinces but the federal government was not willing to do so. The PPP leader also used the occasion to talk about other issues. He said the prime minister statements were creating confusion about coronavirus lockdown. It is the responsibility of the federal government to frame policy at the national level but that is missing. He suggested to the government to reduce the prices of petrol as well as that of electricity and gas to the benefit of the coronavirus affected people.