ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Taking exception to a controversial statement by Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa in which he criticised the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, senators of two parties submitted motions against him on Thursday.

“We have moved an adjournment motion because we want to have a debate as to why the governor has spoken against the 18th Constitution Amendment that was passed unanimously by parliament,” Senator Zahid Khan, information secretary of the Awami National Party (ANP), said.

Talking to Dawn, he said the motion had also been signed by Afrasiab Khattak and the party’s parliamentary leader in the house, Haji Muhammad Adeel.

According to sources in the Senate Secretariat, Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party also submitted a motion criticising the governor’s statement and terming it an insult to the entire parliament. Speaking at a PPP function held in Multan on Wednesday, Mr Khosa had said that Senator Raza Rabbani had disfigured the Constitution through the amendment that had brought about structural changes in the governors’ authority.

The Pakistan People’s Party has been claiming credit for what it terms a historic amendment.

When contacted, Senator Rabbani, who headed the all-party Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms that had drafted the amendment bill, said he did not want to comment on the governor’s statement but everyone knew that it was a historic achievement of the political leadership and parliament after the 1973 Constitution.

He said he believed that the amendment, which devolved a number of federal subjects to the provinces, had prevented the country from heading towards disintegration.

PPP sources said the party’s top leaders were also unhappy over the governor’s statement and may seek an explanation from him.

A PPP leader commented that on the one hand the party was telling the people that President Asif Ali Zardari was the head of the state who had delegated all his powers to parliament and on the other Mr Khosa was crying over abolition of certain powers of the provincial governors.