18th Amend is property of federation, provinces: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said 18th constitutional Amendment is the property of the provinces and the federation and any attempt to undermine it, circumvent it or amend it, will be resisted at all forums. “The political fall-out of disturbing this national consensus will have disastrous consequences for the federation,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. Raza Rabbani said the 18th Amendment passed unanimously by Parliament, without dissent as it expressed will of various nationalities of Pakistan, all political parties in Parliament, provinces and the Pakistani nation. He said the 18th Amendment brought the nationalist forces on the table for a dialogue. Raza Rabbani said 18th Amendment blunted the extreme nationalist movements that were tripping the federation. He said the 18th Amendment has starved the voice of dissent against the Punjab province. The former chairman said 18th Amendment has made the provinces stakeholders in their natural resources and through participatory federalism broken their isolation in the federation. He said the 18th Amendment transferred greater administrative and authority to the provinces. He said the 18th Amendment has given more powers to Parliament. Raza Rabbani said the 18th Amendment created a new national paradigm of a political dialogue to resolve thorny issues of rights, autonomy, ownership of resources and settle the long standing political questions. The former chairman Said it is not the 18th Amendment or 7th NFC award which is responsible for the financial problems being faced by the federal government as the fault lies with the federal government which has failed to reduce its expenditure and broaden the tax base. “By avoiding Parliament violations of Article 77 of the Constitution, SROs and/or ordinances are being issued to vary the tax structure in order to give favour to the capitalist class. Raza Rabbani said how provinces can be deprived of their shares from the federal divisible pool. “The federal government continues to borrow higher interest rates to fund its functions which need to be reduced,” he said. He said the federal government must learn to cut its coat according to its cloth, rather than break a national consensus which will have a historical ramifications.