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| 12 April 2005 | Tuesday | 02 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426 |
Altaf calls for new constitution
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s founder Altaf Hussain has demanded a new constitution, and said that the 1973 constitution does not reflect the social and moral values and geo-strategic realities of the country because it was based on the British Government of India Act of 1935.
Addressing the ‘Meet the Press’ programme of the Karachi Press Club on Monday, Mr Hussain whose party is an important member of the ruling coalition both at the centre and in Sindh, said that framing a new constitution was the need of the hour. “It should be done in consultation with the people of Pakistan,” he added.
All previous constitutions reflected the British colonial thinking, he said and urged the people to think over his proposal if they wanted to get rid of poverty and backwardness.
Mr Hussain said that constitution was not a sacrosanct document. It should be amended to meet the needs of the time, he said adding that it was necessary if the people wanted to resolve the issue of provincial autonomy.
Mr Hussain dwelt at length on the constitutional and political history of the country which, he said, experienced many military interventions.
Mr Hussain claimed that the 1935 Act had given more autonomy to the provinces, which was curtailed in the 1973 constitution. He said that if the country had to survive as an independent state, it must fashion itself in accordance with the evolving geo-political and geo-strategic realities and the ground realities within the country.
He welcomed the resumption of the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus services and said he hoped that Khokhrapar route would also be opened soon. But, he regretted that some people in the establishment did not consider it a priority issue.
He demanded that provinces should be informed about the quantum of their annual GDP and alleged that the policies of the federation were pushing the provinces out of the system.
Criticizing the formula of the sharing of resources in the NFC on the basis of population, he asked why was the same principle not applied in the 1956 constitution. If this criterion was not changed, he said, the smaller provinces would always remain poor.
Mr Hussain said he had no objection to people of other provinces coming to Sindh in search of jobs because they were also citizens of this country, but stressed that if they settled in this province they should be included in the population of Sindh and not in the province of their origin.
Accordingly, the population of Punjab and other provinces should be reduced and Sindh’s percentage should be calculated on the basis of 31.7 per cent and not 23.7 per cent. That, he said, would mean a reduction of seven per cent in Punjab’s population and three per cent in the case of Balochistan.
He also criticized the government for not abiding by its commitment of sharing the octroi duty with Sindh and suggested that while determining the share in the federal divisible pool, the size of a province should also be taken into account in addition to its contribution and resource generation.
Mr Hussain also criticized the federal government for not taking the provinces into confidence while formulating the 8th five-year plan and said the provinces knew better about their needs and priorities.
The MQM leader also demanded that province with coastal belt should have control over their coastal assets — Karachi port in Sindh and Gwadar in Balochistan.
When asked why had the MQM not threatened to quit the government for continuing construction of the Greater Thal Canal and on the issue of Kalabagh dam as it had done in the case of military action in Balochistan, Mr Hussain said that his party’s position on Balochistan was determined by threats posed to human lives. He explained his party’s position on the other issues and called for resolving them amicably by taking into account the needs and rights of each other.
Stressing that the MQM was opposed to military interventions in political dispensation, Mr Hussain criticized some elements, especially the religious parties, who were demanding Gen Pervez Musharraf to give up his uniform. He said that after 9/11, no- one, not even his own party, could have taken any decision that the one General Musharraf had taking following Washington’s threat of “either you are with us or against us”.
Mr Hussain declared that his party would support other parties’ demand for banishing forever military’s involvement in politics.
The MQM chief also rebuked the PPP for criticizing the government for creating new districts and pointed out that the PPP government itself had created the district of Malir.
Mr Hussain said that the people were suffering because of soaring prices and rising unemployment and directed his coordination committee to look into these problems. He also talked about the problems being faced by journalists, be that the implementation of the seventh wage board award or development work in the housing scheme or the KPC ownership issue.
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