RAWALPINDI, June 14: The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) on Wednesday said a strong centre without giving autonomous status to all the federating units does not guarantee a strong Pakistan.

Speaking to the Rawalpindi District Bar Association here, PML- N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said it was the dire need of the hour to give maximum autonomy to provinces in order to enable them to manage their own affairs.

He said all the democratic parties who signed or endorsed the Charter of Democracy had proposed provincial autonomy in order to remove the prevailing inter-provincial mistrust and tension on revenue sources and other issues.

The PML-N leader criticised the government for widening the gap between the centre and provinces and feared that inter- provincial conflicts would lead to disintegration of the country.

“Do you think that Balochistan and NWFP are happy with the ongoing military operation or the crackdown has been launched in consensus with the two provinces,” he asked.

The army operation would have not occurred at all if the provinces were given their right to decision making and the tension would have been solved long ago without taking any action against the Baloch and tribal leaders,” Mr Iqbal added.

He said the charter had taken into account all these issues and was a ray of hope for the people of Pakistan, adding that the document was a lesson from the past mistakes of political parties.