Abolishment of concurrent list poses serious challenges to national identity: PILDAT

ALI HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD: President Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), Ahmed Bilal Mehboob Wednesday said that abolishment of Concurrent List under the 18th Constitutional Amendment has posed serious challenges to national identity and it needs to be restored.

Speaking at Islamabad Policy Research Institute’s (IPRI) lecture on “18th Amendment and Challenges to Federalism” on its 8th anniversary following its passage from the Parliament, he asserted that serious soul-searching is required to see what it has failed to achieve, whether there are lessons to be learned to modify it and remove bottlenecks to improve its implementation and make changes. He said that the amendment is a reality, a political reality, passed unanimously so it cannot be washed away. But while it does not pose challenges to the federalism since it can be modified the way a state wants, the 18th Constitutional Amendment does pose problems for the national identity and integrity of the state of Pakistan, he added.

He agreed with the dissenting note submitted by SM Zaffar, a noted legal expert and the then PML-Q representative in the parliamentary committee on the 18th Amendment, who stated that by abolishing the concurrent list, it is tantamount to weakening the federation, adding the Council of Common Interests (CCI) has emerged as a “super cabinet,” or “government within a government.” This, he said, has posed a major challenge to the national identity as curriculum of the education institutions being an important subject had been devolved to the provinces that lack capacity. “We have no option but to make local governments more meaningful and effective if the real purpose of the amendment to serve local people and maintain the integrity and national identity of the country is to be fulfilled,” he said. “A Constitution is not a static document and the impacts of this amendment should be openly debated, and the Concurrent Legislative List should be immediately restored,” he asserted.

Providing the detailed overview of the federalism in the sub-continent, from the 1914 Lucknow Pact, 1919 Montague-Chelmsford Reforms, Jinnah’s 14 Points in 1928, Allama Iqbal’s visionary 1930 Allahabad address, the 1935 Government of India Act, and Quaid-i-Azam’s 1945 interview, he said, “We should remember that pre-independence India had an entirely different context for federalism, and how and how much it has been changed for Pakistan post-14 August 1947.”

Referring to the Pakistan’s post-1971 constitutional evolution, he said that the 18th Amendment did not take place in a vacuum. Rather the varied perceptions about the reasons for the separation of East Pakistan, the defacement of the 1973 Constitution, the strains between the centre and provinces, especially then-NWFP and Balochistan, the 1999 Coup and 17th Amendment, all led to the need for Constitutional reforms to bring it back to its original 1973 spirit and strengthen its parliamentary-federal character, he added.

He was also critical of the process and committee make-up which worked on the 18th Amendment document since over-representation of senators led to the document being dominated by regional sentiments and diluted the central character of the government. “While certain level of confidentiality is necessary, complete and utter secrecy was counterproductive and the hurried passage of the amendment provided no time for substantive and open discussions once it was brought to the Parliament,” he added. He pointed out that since federalism is a delicate compromise between unity and autonomy so there is a need for mature political ability and legalism for the continuity and success of this system.

Earlier, President of IPRI Ambassador (retd) Abdul Basit in his welcome address said that 18th Constitutional Amendment adopted in April 2010 has been a landmark legislation that has provided a legal framework to enable a democratic devolution that can be termed as a historic achievement to confer democratic rights to the people of Pakistan.

However, he pointed out that given its important implications for legislative, political and power-sharing arrangements that exist between the federal and provincial governments, the amendment places increased capacity demands on the role and functions of the provincial governments and a greater understanding of and adjustment to this monumental shift on the part of the federation.