June 26, 2005	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, June 25: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) has rejected the demand of nationalist parties to allow centre to retain only three portfolios - foreign affairs, defence and finance - and asked the sub-committee on constitutional reforms to hold meetings with the president, the prime minister and other government functionaries to forge consensus for amending the 1973 constitution.

“We have completed our meetings with political parties to amend the 1973 constitution with a view to accommodating the demands of provinces on various issues and now we plan to meet the president and the prime minister and others very soon,” said leader of the house in the Senate and head of the sub-committee on constitutional reforms, Senator Wasim Sajjad.

He told Dawn here on Saturday that the ruling PML had agreed to offer more autonomy to provinces and make some changes in the concurrent list. “But it has rejected the demand of nationalist parties of Balochistan to let the centre retain only three portfolios,” he added.

He, however, said it would take time to build consensus for amending the constitution. “It should take time because we are dealing with a very sensitive and important issue of introducing amendments to the constitution,” he said.

So far, he added, the ruling PML had rejected the idea of allowing three portfolios for the centre but the matter had to be thoroughly discussed with the president, the prime minister and other important ministries, including the ministry of law and the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB).

“It may not be possible to remove the concurrent list outright as it ensures better relations between the federation and its federating units (provinces),” the leader of the house in the Senate said.

He said it was a huge task to amend the 1973 constitution, a consensus document.

The government had appointed a high-profile parliamentary committee in last May to remove the grievances of the provinces, especially of Balochistan, under the chairmanship of PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Later, he appointed two sub-committees, one led by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed and the other by Senator Wasim Sajjad. The Mushahid committee had given its final recommendation which also included a Rs10 billion special package for Balochistan and 5.4 per cent job quota for Balochis in the federal government.

Responding to a question, Senator Wasim Sajjad said that nationalist parties of Balochistan had demanded removal of the concurrent list but the parties of other three provinces had not made such a demand. “We would consult Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP governments to deal with the matter,” he said.

He said there were not many differences on the question of offering more autonomy to the provinces.

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