Raza Rabbani | Pakistan

PPP stalwart and former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani has warned that the government’s proposed constitutional changes could effectively undo the landmark 18th Amendment.

PPP stalwart and former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani on Tuesday said the recently proposed changes to the Constitution, if passed, would amount to a rollback of the much-touted 18th Amendment. Yesterday, the ruling party PML-N’s coalition partner PPP revealed it had been approached by the government for its support in passing a 27th Constitutional Amendment. The key features were heavily criticised by lawyers and politicians, who termed them an attempt to revoke provincial rights granted in the 18th Amendment. “The proposed constitutional amendments of the federal government, with reference to provincial autonomy, amount to a rollback of the 18th Amendment,” Rabbani said in a statement. The 18th Amendment, passed in 2010, had allayed provinces’ concerns by devolving several ministries and departments from the Centre to them, including education and population. “In the brittle internal political situation, playing with provincial autonomy will cast deep shadows over the federation,” the veteran politician warn...

Former Senate chairperson Raza Rabbani emphasised on Monday that the federal government should “immediately” take parliament into confidence on its “new US policy”, particularly mentioning media reports about the sale of rare minerals and the supposed plan to offer Pasni port to Washington. “The federal government has not taken the people or parliament into confidence on the dynamics of the new relationship with the United States,” Rabbani stated in a press release. He added, “It is the right of the people to know the details and the direction of the foreign policy. In history, the US has never been a reliable friend to depend upon.” On the sale of precious and rare minerals to American metals company US Strategic Metals (USSM), he said it was “unfortunate” that information about the deal had come through the media. He stressed that “real stakeholders” in this matter were the provinces, which should have been taken into confidence through the Council of Common Interests. “The federal government fails to reali...