–Citizens say they would unite with political parties trying to protect the key 18th Amendment in case it is under threat
KARACHI: Civil society, trade unions, human rights and labour rights activists have expressed serious concern over reports about attempts to tamper, sabotage or annul the 18th Amendment in the constitution and National Finance Commission (NFC) Award on instigation by anti-democratic elements.
In a joint statement here on Thursday, civil society activists, including Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Executive Director Karamat Ali, PILER Joint Director Zulfiqar Shah, Peoples Labour Bureau’s (PLB) Habibuddin Junaidi, National Trade Union Federation’s (NTUF) Nasir Mansoor, National Organisation of Working Communities’ (NOWC) Farhat Parveen, Home-based Women Workers Federation’s (HWWF) Zehra Khan, Democratic Workers Union of State Bank of Pakistan (SBPDWU) Liaqat Sahi, Women Action Forum’s (WAF) Anis Haroon, Aurat Foundation’s Mahnaz Rahman, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP) Asad Iqbal Butt, Qamrul Hassan from IUF and others warned that any attempt to tamper the key amendment in the constitution would be taken as an attack on the federation.
“The 18th Amendment was the second occasion, after the actual passage of the 1973 Constitution, that in 2010 was restored to its original form with a thumping majority under which many previous amendments during the dictatorship era were erased,” said the statement.
“Any attempt to sabotage the 18th Amendment would be tantamount to usurp provincial autonomy which the nation achieved after a long period of editorships in the country. Such an act will open up a Pandora’s Box,” it warned.
Further, the statement said that the 18th Amendment offered protection to the NFC Award, providing provinces with a major share of the federal divisible pool of revenues. The federal government has tried to reduce the share of provinces on many occasions but did not succeed due to a strong constitutional protections. Now, some elements in the federal government have started an untimely discussion in the national media to tamper the 18th Amendment which is a matter of concern.
It is a matter of fact the NFC Award has not been implemented fully in its letter and spirit whereas a new award was overdue as the 7th NFC Award was announced in 2009-10. Since then, the eighth and ninth awards are overdue, but no serious measure has been made to revise this five-year period award.
“We think that the entire nation is facing economic hardships due to the coronavirus lockdown and closure of businesses, this insignificant discussion on the 18th Amendment is an attempt to divert attention from the issues the general public is currently facing,” the statement said, adding that the development was an endeavour to cover up the failures of policies made by the federal government in controlling the situation arising out of lockdown.
“The civil society would not support any such attempt and would strongly protest in case any such move was actually initiated,” it said.
“At first stance, it is almost impossible for this government to make any amendment in the constitution as it does not have a two-third majority in the parliament and in case it tries to annul the 18th Amendment, opposition parties are united to thwart such an attempt. We would fully support political parties which are trying to protect the key 18th Amendment in the 1973 Constitution,” the statement said.
“We stress the need for providing more autonomy as per federalism of the constitution in line with 18th Amendment,” it concluded.
