27 February 2005	Sunday	17 Muharram 1426

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ISLAMABAD Feb 26: The Wasim Sajjad parliamentary sub-committee constituted to deal with constitutional issues of the provincial autonomy with special reference to Balochistan met here at the Parliament House on Saturday and was adjourned till March 12 after discussions.

It was presumed earlier that after the other sub-committee under Mushahid Hussain Syed had almost finalized the report on financial and political issues, the Sajjad committee would finish its work in Saturday's meeting, which was, however, not done.

In the meeting, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League circulated a set of fresh draft recommendations on provincial autonomy for the parliamentary committee on Balochistan.

Earlier on Friday, ruling Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had complained in the coalition parties' parliamentary meeting that the parliamentary committee on Balochistan was not being allowed to work independently to finalize its report and had warned that if such attitude continued no other parliamentary committee would be able to work.

The PML recommendations carry proposal for extensive review of the concurrent list to ensure real devolution of power in order to promote inter-provincial harmony and to strengthen the federation by ensuring provincial autonomy.

It has further suggested that the Council of Common Interest should be made effective and operational to enable it fulfil its constitutional role.

For this purpose, an amendment has been proposed in the Constitution to the effect that a meeting of the CCI be held at least once every six months.

It has been proposed that the National Finance Commission award should be finalized before the next budget and that population should not be the sole criterion for the distribution of resources.

Other factors such as poverty, state of development and special needs of the provinces like Balochistan should also be taken care of, the ruling party recommendations further said.

The PML recommendations also deal with the legislative powers of the Senate, and said the upper house should have the power to amend the money bill subject to approval by the National Assembly. Articles 151 to 160 of the Constitution have been recommended for strict implementation.

A meeting between the leaders of the Democratic Alliance in the Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, Asfandyar Wali Khan and Mehmood Khan Achakzai, was followed by the sub-committee meeting to review the PML recommendations in comparison of the recommendations already submitted by other parties, including the People's Party Parliamentarians.

Leader of the Opposition in Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, who was among members of the sub-committee, later told Dawn that the Democratic Alliance would take a combined line after reviewing the present and past sets of recommendations.

Representatives of other parties in the sub-committee demanded of the committee to afford sufficient time to go through fresh recommendations, as a result of which it was decided that next meeting would be held on March 12.

Mr Rabbani said there was a big difference between the earlier submitted recommendations from the PPP and the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement as against the ones circulated by the ruling PML and there would be a need for more discussion among the sub-committee to narrow down the differences.

He said the representatives in the committee would return to their respective parties during this period to discuss and build a consensus.