Robbery On 18th Amendment Not To Be Tolerated:Farhat Ullah Babar

PPP's leader Senator Farhat Ullah Babar has said that if a centrist or presidential form of government was imposed through back door it will open a Pandora box and smaller provinces will demand parity in Parliament"

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th March, 2019) PPP's leader Senator Farhat Ullah Babar has said that if a centrist or presidential form of government was imposed through back door it will open a Pandora box and smaller provinces will demand parity in Parliament".This he said while speaking at a seminar on challenges to parliamentary system of governance at SDPI in Islamabad today.

Barrister Naseem Ahmad Bajwa and MNA Romina Khurshid also addressed the seminar.The parity formula was imprudently applied on former East Pakistan to neutralize its majority status and smaller provinces would also demand parity in Assembly if any back door attempt was made to deprive them of their rights, he said.Constitutional mechanisms namely Senate, Council of Common Interest (CCI), NFC and National Economic Council (NEC) were the building blocks of federation.

However the turning on its head of the constitutional principle of separation of powers between the legislature, judiciary and the executive was a great stumbling block against parliamentary democracy, he said.

Reminding that the foundation of Pakistan lay in demand for provincial autonomy and four out of Quaid's 14 points centered around provincial autonomy he said Federal parliamentary structure guaranteed not only provincial autonomy but also the federation itself.

A resolution of the provincial autonomy issue had taken the wind out of Punjab bashing, he said.Whether it was the breakup of Pakistan or the unrest in Balochistan and smaller provinces these were rooted in political alienation due to centric mindset envisaged in a presidential system, he said.Two critical elements of 18th amend were strengthening Article 6 so that no court could condone suspension or abrogation of the Constitution under any pretext and ending powers of President to sack elected governments and parliament.

However some elements were still trying to undo the effect of these far reaching amendments, he said.