The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan has called for the rollback of the 18th amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, according to reports on Wednesday.
According to the reports, Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan has stated that provinces have effectively become autonomous states after the amendment.
Speaking during the National Assembly session, Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said that after the 18th Amendment, the provinces have practically taken the form of states.
He said that as a result of the constitutional amendment, the powers of the federal government have been limited. ‘While the provincial governments have acquired extraordinary powers,’ he added.
He said that the 18th Amendment should be reviewed for the balance of powers and effective governance in the country.
According to him, the role of the federation has been weakened in some matters in the current system. Due to which, uniform policy making at the national level is being affected.
The MQM leader demanded that consideration be given to rolling back the 18th Amendment or making necessary changes in it so that the balance of powers between the federation and the provinces can be maintained.
It should be noted that the 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed in 2010, under which several powers were transferred from the federation to the provinces.
‘New urban province an unavoidable necessity’
Before this, the MQM-P Chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that creating a new urban province in Sindh is now “an unavoidable necessity”.
He made these remarks while speaking at a programme called “The Dialogue Karachi.” According to Dawn, the program was organised by his party at a local hotel.
The event was attended by politicians, intellectuals, journalists, urban development experts, and governance specialists.
They said that Karachi continues to face long standing problems such as poor governance and an ineffective local government system.
They also warned that Pakistan’s main economic city cannot progress without real devolution of powers and proper administrative reforms.
“The truth is that whatever development Karachi enjoys today is largely the result of MQM’s efforts,” he said.
“A new urban province, within the constitutional framework of Pakistan, has become an unavoidable necessity,” he added.
“The solutions to Karachi’s problems exist, but there is a severe lack of political will,” he said.
