HYDERABAD: Mutta­hida Qaumi Move­ment (MQM) deputy convener Nasreen Jalil has said amendments can be made to the 1973 Constitution as it is not a “divine document”.

She was speaking to reporters at a banquet in Latifabad on Monday as part of relief distribution programme of the party’s welfare wing, the Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation (KKF). She said Z. A. Bhutto indeed had given 1973 Constitution but it was not a divine document that could not be amended.

She said establishment of administrative units in Sindh had become inevi­table for the development of the province. She said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) could not ensure progress of rural Sindh; how would it develop the rest of Sindh?

She said the issues of the Urdu-speaking community were not being resolved. She said the health and education sectors were not delivering. She said the PPP government was passing the legislation that suited it. Formation of a commission was also needed that must hear problems of people and redress their grievances, she added.

She said that before division of Indian subconti­nent, there were 13 provin­ces with five going to Pakistan and eight to India. She said East Pakistan eme­r­g­ed as a separate entity and asking that when provi­n­ces could be created in Punjab, then why not in Sindh.

She said history was a witness to the fact that people did not get any facilities in feudal system and that was why the MQM was demanding creation of administrative units. She said that the 1973 Constitu­tion was not divine legisla­tion that could not be alte­red or changed.

Others who were present on the occasion included Masood Mahmood, Sindh Tanzeemi Committee in charge Saleem Razzaq, dist­rict in-charge Zafar Ahmed Siddiqui, MNAs Sabir Kaim­khani and Salahuddin, and MPAs Rashid Khilji, Nadeem Siddiqui and Nasir Qureshi.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2019