ISLAMABAD, March 10: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Thursday proposed a number of amendments to the constitution to give maximum autonomy to provinces, leaving only three subjects — defence, foreign affairs and currency — for the centre.
Speaking at a news conference here, the parliamentary party leader of the MQM in the National Assembly, Dr Farooq Sattar, said the constitution should be amended without any delay, otherwise a new constitution would have to be drafted.
Responding to a question about the ongoing row between the Sindh chief minister and a sacked minister, he said: “It is an internal matter of their party which we want to be resolved within the party.”
Haider Abbas Rizvi, Deodas, Israrul Ibad and Prof Khalid Wahab were present on the occasion.
The MQM, which has strongly opposed the use of force in Balochistan and one of its MNAs is a member of the parliamentary committee on Balochistan, presented recommendations for consideration of the parliamentary committee which was considering a draft constitutional package.
Dr Sattar said the recommendations were prepared to help the Wasim Sajjad committee in finalizing its report on March 12 when it was scheduled to meet again.
He said the issue of provincial autonomy had become a source of conflict between the centre and the federating units soon after the creation of Pakistan and it hit the headlines again during the recent incidents of violence in Balochistan.
It was, therefore, imperative that the issue of provincial autonomy for Balochistan should not be considered in isolation, rather it should be made part of a comprehensive constitutional package, he added.
The MQM leader said the issue of provincial autonomy must be settled for all the provinces simultaneously in conjunction with Balochistan to ensure a peaceful and stable federation of Pakistan.
The MQM’s recommendations are as follows: 1) All provinces, including Sindh, should be given complete provincial autonomy at this juncture when provincial autonomy for Balochistan was being considered. 2) The centre should keep three subjects — defence, foreign affairs and currency — while ensuring equal representation for all the federating units in these subjects to minimize any chance of hegemony of one province. 3) The centre should genuinely devolve all rights and powers to the federating units in order to enable them to become self-functional. 4) The centre and the federating units should mutually evolve a share-contribution formula for the federation in order to relieve the centre of the burden of distributing finances between the provinces and to empower provinces to utilize their natural wealth and resources to the benefit of their people. 5) To accomplish these objectives and accommodate the interests and aspirations of the people of federating units, the parliamentary committee on Balochistan should evolve ways to cohesively incorporate appropriate amendments to the 1973 Constitution.
However, if such an exercise becomes difficult within the framework of the 1973 Constitution, the committee may recommend the framing of a new constitution to fully incorporate the changed realities of the federation of Pakistan.
