QUETTA: The Council of Common Interests (CCI) should be made more effective in resolving disputes between the provinces and federal government, said speakers at a dialogue held by the Centre of Civics Education (CCE) on Wednesday. The council, speakers added, should also be given powers for improving interaction between the federation and federating units.

The speakers included Adviser to the Chief Minister Sardar Raza Mohammad Breach, central leader of the National Party Dr Ishaq Baloch, the head of the Chief Minister’s Reforms Unit Programme Dr Kaiser Bangali, CCE’s chief executive Zafarullah Khan, and others.

In a discussion, it was pointed that despite the restoration of the 1973 Constitution in its true spirit through the 18th Amendment and resolving the provincial autonomy issue, the provinces were still facing several problems at the federal levels. The provinces, speakers claimed, were not fully empowered to run their own affairs.According to the speakers, the mindset in Islamabad was creating hurdles in the implementation of the 18th Amendment.

“The federation has devolved departments to the province under 18th Amendment, but did not distribute the assets and funds of the departments among the provinces,” they said.

Sardar Raza said the federal government should play an effective role as a powerful and autonomous institution for the protection of the rights of the federating units, like naming the American Senate as an example.

He added that with the concrete policies of the coalition government in Balochistan, people had seen improvement in different sectors, including law and order, education and health.

Zafarullah Khan said the Constitution provided different platforms to resolve constitutional disputes, including CCI. “We have to strengthen the CCI and other forums in view of the 18th Amendment,” he said.

Dr Ishaq Baloch, proposed amendments to around 150 laws to make the 18th Amendment effective. “A Higher Education Commission should be established at the provincial level as soon as possible,” he suggested.

Other participants suggested that provinces should be given representation in all federal regulatory institutions and federal planning and development commission.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2015

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