'Engineered majority to harm country'

Fazl vows to resist rollback of provincial powers, says 27th Amend draft yet to surface

ISLAMABAD:

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday warned that attempts to "manufacture" a two-thirds parliamentary majority for the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment would harm democracy, asserting that his party would strongly resist any move to curtail provincial autonomy.

Speaking to reporters after chairing a meeting of the JUI-F parliamentary party, Fazl said the government had yet to present a formal draft of the amendment.

"No text of the 27th Amendment has been shared so far," he said, adding that during the 26th Amendment, the government had "withdrawn 35 clauses", and warned that if any of those withdrawn provisions were reintroduced, his party will oppose it outright.

When asked whether the amendments to Article 243 were the same as those initially included in the 26th Amendment, Fazl said, "If these changes negatively affect politics or democracy, we will oppose them. But if they merely grant administrative clarity, we may support them".

The JUI-F leader denounced political manoeuvring to pull together a two-thirds majority for constitutional changes. "This kind of number-pulling is an insult to democracy and parliament," he said.

"If there is any attempt to reduce provincial powers granted under the 18th Amendment, we will resist it. We will not allow anyone to plunder provincial rights. Powers must be expanded, not curtailed."

Fazl stressed that the 18th Amendment had been a consensus-based reform. "There were no two opposing sides in that process. Every party contributed, and parliament passed it unanimously after thorough deliberation," he recalled.

"We were told to pass it in three days, but it took us a month. We will review the size and scope of this new amendment before deciding when and how it should be passed." He also reiterated that his party did not consider the current assembly as truly representative of the public.

"No real steps are being taken on madrassa registration, and efforts are being made to place religious seminaries under the education ministry," he lamented.

"There has been no visible progress on the elimination of interest-based financial systems either."

Earlier, the JUI-F parliamentary party met at Fazl's residence, attended by both National Assembly members and senators.

His statement came a day after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said his party would oppose any clause in the 27th Amendment that reduced provincial shares while supporting changes proposed to Article 243, which pertains to the command and appointment of the armed forces.

Bilawal told reporters following a PPP Central Executive Committee meeting that while the party backed adjustments to Article 243, it "completely rejected" suggestions to diminish provincial allocations.