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ISLAMABAD, May 31: People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday approved a draft of the 18th Constitution Amendment Bill and, according to the law ministry, the modified document will now be sent to other coalition partners in order to arrive at a consensus before its presentation in parliament.
The law ministry’s announcement that the constitutional package had been approved by the party chief came as a surprise because Mr Zardari is not a part of the government.
A source said that changes included a new clause in Article 243 of the Constitution which proposes to authorise the prime minister to declare war in case of an external aggression.
“Only the prime minister will have the final authority to grant permission to resort to such an extreme step,” sources said.
Although Article 243 lays down that the federal government will control and command the armed forces, clause 1(A) states: “Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the supreme command of the armed forces will vest in the president.”
Clause 2 of Article 243 says the president will have the power to raise and maintain the military, naval and air forces and the reserves of such forces and to grant commission in such forces.
Sub-clause 3 of the provision says that the president, in consultation with the prime minister, will appoint the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the Chief of the Army Staff, the Chief of the Naval Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff, besides determining their salary and allowances.
The law minister is scheduled to meet PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in Raiwind on Sunday to deliver a copy of the draft.
An announcement by the law ministry said a sealed copy of the package had been delivered to Bushra Gohar, the vice-president of the Awami National Party (ANP), because the party’s president, Asfandyar Wali Khan, was in Karachi.
Farooq Naek also talked on phone with Maulana Fazalur Rehman, who is currently in Saudi Arabia. On his request, the law minister handed over the package to his representative, Mufti Abrar.
A representative of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has also received a copy of the draft. The party would now send the copy to its chief, Altaf Hussain, in London.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: Earlier, presiding over a meeting of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), the law minister said the government had decided to scrap the local government system, introduced in 2001, as all provinces had expressed reservations over the arrangement.
The Constitution would be amended for this purpose.
Farooq Naek said there was a proposal to revive the previous local bodies system and the proposed constitutional package also contained some clauses in it.
In this regard, amendments had also been suggested in the package as the local government system was protected under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution according to which it could not be changed without the president’s permission. Either that or the government would have had to wait till 2009, when provincial governments could amend the existing system.
The PPP was already working on a plan to suggest changes in the Local Government Ordinance and the Police Order because both the PPP and the PML-N believed that the local government system had ruined the provincial governments’ administrative control.
On May 24, after attending the meeting of the central executive committee of the PPP, Mr Naek had unveiled the salient feature of the package mainly aimed at cutting presidential powers and ensuring parliament’s sovereignty.
The package includes suggestions to revoke the president’s power to dismiss the government and transfer his authority to appoint provincial governors and heads of the armed forces services and delegate it to the prime minister. The amendments also included a bar on the president running for office for more than two terms.
The PPP has also proposed to amend Article 1 of the Constitution under which the name of the NWFP (North West Frontier Province) will be changed to ‘Pakhtoonkhwa.’
Through another amendment in Article 6 of the Constitution, it has been suggested that superior court judges, who validated military takeovers in future and take oaths under provisional constitution orders (PCOs), would be liable to be tried under high treason.
Through another proposed amendment, minorities are being given representation in the Senate. The bill suggests that there should be five minority members ‘one from each province and one from the federal capital’ in the Senate that will take the total number of the members of the Upper House to 105. At present, there are 100 Senators.
The bill also suggests amending Article 63 which deals with disqualification of a person from becoming a member of parliament.
Under the existing provision in Article 63(g), a person who defames or ‘brings into ridicule the judiciary or the armed forces’ cannot become a member of parliament. Now, there will be no such provision in the constitution, if the proposed bill is passed. The bill also suggests that in future, caretaker governments at centre and provinces will be appointed in consultation with prime minister, senate chairman and speakers of the National and provincial assemblies.
The PPP is also inclined to do away with the law under which an elected person can simultaneously hold two government offices.
The proposed bill also envisages abolition of the concurrent list to grant more autonomy to the provinces.
The party has also suggested that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and the National Finance Commission (NFC) be made more effective to remove grievances of the provinces on major issues.
