Pak politicians against amending Constitution

Pak politicians against amending Constitution
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

ISLAMABAD, JAN 6: Various political parties in Pakistan have strongly opposed that the military regime's move to amend the constitution to transfer powers from the centre to provinces saying that the government has no legal or moral authority to do so.

``Only the elected parliament can amend the constitution. They (military rulers) should pack up and leave. Once they hold elections and a new government comes in, this issue can then be tackled,'' Aftab Sheikh of Muttahida Qaumi Movement said, rejecting National Reconstruction Bureau's (NRB) proposal to formulate a law on transfer of powers from centre to provinces.

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan of former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said even the Supreme Court had, in no way, given the government any right to make any changes in the basic federal and parliamentary structure of the Constitution.

``We are worried about diminution of provincial autonomy and reduction of provincial authority by a federal establishment directly without intervention of the parliamentary process. And we feel that this situation and process will create fears in the provinces that their authority is being further eroded,'' Ahsan said.

Begum Naseem Wali Khan of Awami National Party (ANP) saidNRB's attempts imply a crude manner of finding a military solution to a political problem.

``NRB should invite politicians directly and ask for their views. It is only through a dialogue that such political issues are settled. Provincial autonomy is a political issue and cannot be solved by NRB,'' Khan said.

``We placed an advertisement in the newspapers in several languages asking for suggestions to resolve the problems relating to the quantum of provincial autonomy. But I am disappointed that not a single political party, politician or any institution responded,'' NRB chairman Tanveer Naqvi told the News daily.

Naqvi said the draft law on which NRB is working upon will also include a change in the balance of powers and structure of the federating units.