KARACHI, April 21 Senator Raza Rabbani said here on Wednesday that the 18th Amendment is a rare document in the democratic history of the country and culmination of the struggle launched by the late Benazir Bhutto.

Speaking at a 'Meet the press programme' of the Karachi Press Club, he particularly mentioned three reasons that make it unusual (1) An incumbent president has given up his powers to an elected parliament, (2) the name of a dictator, Ziaul Haq, has been expunged from the constitution and dictator Pervez Musharraf's LFO has also been rightly tackled, and (3) there was a time when the issue of provincial autonomy was thought to be a serious and complex matter and touching upon it would amount to endangering the federation. But the parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms took up the issue and, though it's not completely resolved, it has dealt with the matter to a great degree. Through the effort the journey towards provincial autonomy could begin.

Mr Rabbani said the 1973 constitution had many clauses that if implemented rightly, the tension and polarisation between provinces that's being witnessed today could've been avoided. The resource control issue had also been effectively dealt with, he added. He thanked members of the committee on constitutional reforms for rising above party considerations and saluted members from Balochistan who after a long time had signed a document without reservation.

He made it clear that no step was taken that was beyond the constitutional parameters. The fundamentals of the constitution like Islamic clauses, the parliamentary form of government and the independence of the judiciary hadn't been disturbed, he said. He repeated that the committee always kept in view that the independence of the judiciary was vital. He said it took a journey of 37 years to reach where the committee reached, and considering what happened to the country after 1973 with respect to polarisation, the 18th Amendment was nothing less than a “grand national consensus”.

Mr Rabbani said the consensus was made possible by Pakistan's people and the future of the country would now hinge on this document. He said during voting only two clauses were voted against, otherwise all the other clauses were unanimously agreed upon, and the National Assembly and the Senate had also passed the bill without fuss. He lauded the farsightedness and sagacity of the country's political leadership because of which the 18th Amendment became a reality.

Replying to a question, Senator Raza Rabbani said except for a couple of subjects, the committed had been able to do away with the concurrent list. He said “We've rebuilt the council of common interests... We have rekindled the concept of participatory federalism.”

Speaking on the question of a proposed bill regarding the language issue, Mr Rabbani said when it came to him, the committee had already deliberated on the matter for four or five days, and according to the constitution the language issue was provinces' domain.

Responding to a query regarding the much-discussed parliamentary committee's rights, he said as per Article 175(A) it didn't impinge on the independence of the judiciary.

Talking about the implementation of the 18th Amendment, Mr Rabbani said if it's not implemented in its true spirit the backlash could be terrible. “An implementation commission has to be formed within 15 days,” he said.

Responding to a question on elections within political parties, he said it's there in Article 17 of the 1973 Constitution. All the committee did was to look into the clause in Gen Musharraf's 17th Amendment, which was specific to the PPP and the PML-N — the general wanted to regulate political parties.

Referring to the topic related to the party leader's powers to even remove the prime minister, he said Article 63(A) of the Constitution was not a new article — it prevents horse-trading. The party leader could also be the parliamentary leader, he said.

The Karachi Press Club was the first place where Senator Rabbani was dilating on the 18th Amendment bill after it was made part of the constitution because the Pakistan People's Party and many a political worker began their campaign for democracy from the KPC. He said the KPC is the same place where Benazir Bhutto started her struggle for democracy and challenged a dictator, Gen Ziaul Haq.

He said now that the 18th Amendment was made into law, the struggle had reached its logical conclusion.