Hail The 18th Amendment
Today President Zardari will address both houses of Parliament and will hail the 18th constitutional amendment and I hail it too. Credit goes to the PPP government for achieving this milestone in returning power to the parliament and the prime minister. Above all credit goes to the much sneered at committee for constitutional reforms headed by Raza Rabbani.
The consensus achieved by Raza Rabbani’s committee in complex often controversial policy areas such as provincial autonomy, judicial appointments and the role of the executive shows that the political class in Pakistan has matured and can act in the national interest. The 18th amendment will renew the 1973 Constitution and rid it of its anomalies planted by many a khaki king during their evil dictatorships. The key reforms as listed by Dawn include the following:
- Repeal the Legal Framework Order of 2002, along with its amendments, as having been issued without lawful authority, as well as the 17th Amendment of 2003 based on it.
- Amend Article 1 to rename the NWFP as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
- Amend Article 6 to include suspension of the Constitution and putting it in abeyance among acts of high treason which no court will validate.
- New article 10A to confer right to fair trial.
- New article 19A to give every citizen the right to access to information in all matters of public importance.
- Article 25A to make the state provide free and compulsory education to all children aged five to 16 years.
- President to act on the prime minister’s advice to dissolve the National Assembly, set a date for the general election and appoint a caretaker government.
- Repeal Article 58(2)B empowering the president to dissolve the National Assembly.
- Amend Article 59 to increase Senate seats to 104 from the present 100 with one representing non-Muslim minorities from each province.
- Amend Article 61 to increase working days of Senate in a parliamentary year to 110 from 90.
- Amend Article 70 and omit Article 71 to do away with provisions for the constitution of a mediation committee in case of difference between the two houses on a bill and revert to calling a joint sitting of parliament in such an event.
- Amend Article 89 to bar promulgation of an ordinance when either of the two houses is in session, rather than only the National Assembly, and restrict re-promulgation to only one time and that too in compliance with a resolution of either house.
- New article 90 to substitute previous one to provide for exercise of the executive authority of the federation “in the name of the president by the federal government consisting of the prime minister and federal ministers, which shall act through the prime minister, who shall be the chief executive of the federation”. Abolish the concurrent legislative list and some subjects in the federal list 1 included in federal list.
- Amend Article 92 to restrict the strength of the federal cabinet, after the next election, to 11 per cent of total members of parliament and of the provincial cabinets to 15 members or 11 per cent of an assembly, whichever is higher, and of advisers of the prime minister or chief minister to a maximum of five.
- Amend Article 101 to provide for a provincial governor to be the resident and voter of the same province.
- Amend Article 104 to provide for a speaker of a provincial assembly to be acting governor.
- Amend Article 127 to increase working days of provincial assemblies to 100 days from 70 days.
- Amend Articles 153 and 154 to provide for the Council of Common Interests to consist of the prime minister, provincial chief ministers and three members from the federal government to be nominated by the prime minister, have a permanent secretariat and meet at least once in 90 days.
- Amend Article 157 to bind the federal government to consult a province’s government before deciding on the construction of a hydro-electric power station there.
- Amend Article 160 to provide for the share of provinces in each NFC award not being less than given them in the previous award.
- Amend Article 167 to authorise provinces to raise domestic and international loans or give guarantees on the security of the provincial consolidated fund within limits and conditions specified by the National Economic Council.
- Amend Articles 168 and 171 to set auditor-general’s tenure at four years and to provide that the auditor-general’s reports will come to both houses of parliament.
- Amend Article 175 to provide that, subject to existing commitments, mineral and oil and natural gas within a province or its adjacent territorial waters “shall vest jointly and equally in that province and the federal government”.
- New article 175A to provide for the constitution of a seven-member judicial commission — for naming judges for appointment to superior courts to be confirmed by a parliamentary committee — consisting of the chief justice (chairman) and two senior-most judges of the Supreme court, a former chief justice or judge of the same court to be nominated by the chief justice, federal minister for law and justice, the attorney-general and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court to be nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council for two years.
- Amend Article 213 to provide for the prime minister to send, in consultation with the leader of opposition in the National Assembly, three names to a parliamentary committee for confirmation of one of them as the chief election commissioner and in case of difference, both of them to send separate lists.
- Amend Article 232 to provide for declaration of emergency after a resolution passed by the assembly of that province and that if the president declares emergency “on his own”, the proclamation to be presented before both houses of parliament for approval within 10 days.
- Amend Article 242 to provide for appointment of the chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission by the president on the advice of the prime minister and of the chairman of a provincial commission by the governor concerned on chief minister’s advice.
- New article 243 to provide for appointment of chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee and chiefs of staff of the army, navy and air force by the president on the advice of the prime minister.
- Repeal Article 268 containing the Sixth Schedule.
The amendments are not all to my pleasing however as a democrat I support the consensus document and praise the Raza Rabbani committee for doing great work in the service of Pakistan.
Indeed I finish by paying tribute to all of the member by their name, the PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf, Babar Awan, Haji Lashkari Raeesani and Mian Raza Rabbani, PML-N’s Ishaq Dar, Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan and Hassan Iqbal, PML-Q’s Wasim Sajjad, S.M. Zafar and Humayun Saifullah Khan, Muttahida’s Dr Farooq Sattar and Haider Abbas Rizvi (MQM), Afrasayab Khattak and Haji Muhammad Adeel (ANP), Rehmatullah Kakar (JUI-F), Justice (retd) Abdur Razzaq Thaheem (PML-F), Srarullah Zehri (BNP-A), Prof Khurshid Ahmad (Jamaat-i-Islami), Mir Hasil Bizenjo (NP), Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao (PPP-S), Abdul Rahim Mandokhel (PMAP), Shahid Hasan Bugti (JWP) and Munir Khan Orazkzai (Fata).
The fact that the Balochi, Sindhi, Pukhtun and Punjabi have all worked to achieve consensus bodes well for the future of Pakistan and its federation. Pakistan Zindabad.
