KARACHI, May 15: Senator Raza Rabbani, a leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, has said that his party will play the role of a constructive opposition in the National Assembly.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club here on Wednesday, he said the opposition would pursue a seven-point agenda to keep a check on the PML-N government.

He said the opposition would keep an eye on the IMF package and its new conditionalities, the policy for generation of employment, steps to control prices of essential commodities and restoration of trade unions in banks and it would also ensue that no anti-worker law be adopted by parliament.

The quantum of provincial autonomy which was ensured through the 18th Amendment would be guarded jealously and the government would not be allowed to roll it back, the senator said. Mr Rabbani headed the parliamentary committee which drafted the amendment.

He recalled that health and education were provincial subjects and the PPP would ensure that they remained with the provinces. It was unfortunate that the caretakers had tried to take back provincial control over education and health sectors by changing the rules of business of the federal government, Mr Rabbani said.

“My party will force implementation of Article 172 of the constitution, under which 50 per cent of resources had been allocated to the federal government and the rest to the provinces.”

The PPP leader said the opposition would see to it that the province where gas was discovered enjoyed the first right of use.

He said PML-N’s election manifesto was not clear about the strategy to control terrorism and extremism, but the opposition would monitor steps taken by the new government. “We will see how the new government will counter the threat of international terrorism and maintain law and order in the country.”

Mr Rabbani said the PML-N government should follow an independent foreign policy whose main points had been enunciated in a consensus resolution adopted by a joint session of parliament.

The government should adopt a clear policy about drone attacks, US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, ties with the US, Nato and Afghanistan, and talks with the Taliban, he added.

He said the opposition would monitor measures to be taken to end loadshedding.

It would also watch how the agreements signed by the PPP government to hand over Gwadar port to China and the gas pipeline project with Iran were implemented by the new government, he added.

Mr Rabbani said participation of political parties led by Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Dr Abdul Malik in the elections would help in resolving the Balochistan issue.

In reply a question, he said the federation would remain under threat if democratic institutions were not stable and the democratic process did not continue.