QUETTA: Opposition members in the Balochistan Assembly have vowed to oppose the reduction in the provincial share in the next National Finance Commission (NFC) Award and said that the federal government must not be allowed to implement its plan and rollback the 18th Amendment.

Nasrullah Zeray of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) had moved an adjournment motion in the house regarding the Islamabad’s proposed plan to reduce provincial shares in the next award. Mr Zeray said that the government seems to have been selected — and installed — to rollback the 18th Amendment. He said Balochistan would stand up against the proposed move and will not make any compromises. Mr Zeray added that the province was already in financial crises. Still, he said, the government was planning to reduce the NFC shares.

He said that Balochistan had already been given less than its fair share in the 7th NFC award, and now once again, Islamabad was set to deprive the province of its due share.

Mr Zeray demanded that in the next NFC award, Balochistan be given its share on the basis of territory, its economic fragility and rabid poverty. “We will not accept a share based only on population,” he warned.

The former chief minister of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government in Balochistan, Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani, while taking the floor, said that he was astonished over the delay in the announcement of the 8th NFC award. Mr Raisani said that there were reports about the alleged plan to rollback the 18th Amendment, and introducing some type of presidential system in the country.

He added that Balochistan had a surplus amount of Rs27 billion in the treasury when he left office. But now, he added, there was a deficit of Rs63bn. He demanded an investigation to find out what happened to all the funds.

Sana Baloch, of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, said that it seemed that the federal government was set to cut provincial shares. She added that Article 163 of the Constitution clearly stated that the share of the provinces must not be smaller than the previous award, and reducing these shares was against the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2018