ISLAMABAD: The PML-N said on Monday no proposal to alter the 18th amendment to the Consti­tution was being considered by the party.

This stance was adopted by party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb and Senator Irfan Siddiqui following the publication of a report in Dawn that the PML-N’s manifesto committee had received several proposals to redo the amendment in question.

In a statement, Ms Aur­a­­ngzeb said that the PML-N had always purs­u­­ed a policy aimed at enha­ncing the resources of all units within the federation.

Speaking to Dawn.com, Senator Siddiqui — who also heads the PML-N mani­festo committee — said his party had neither received any proposal, nor held deliberations to re­­visit the 18th Amendment or NFC Award.

“According to my information, this matter has never been discussed in any party meeting, nor has the party leadership given any instructions to the manifesto committee in this regard,” he said.

On Monday, Ms Aur­ang­zeb said that chairman or secretary of the manifesto committee could have been contacted “before reporting the unsubstantiated news regarding ame­ndm­ents to the 18th Amendment”.

But both Ms Aurangzeb and Senator Siddiqui did not respond to Dawn’s req­uests for comment prior to the publication of the report.

The 18th Amendment, passed during the PPP-led government in 2010, devo­lved powers to provinces in key areas of public services, including health, wo­men development, soc­ial welfare and local gove­r­­nment.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2023