Bilawal warns against tampering with NFC

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has warned that any attempt to dilute provincial rights enshrined in the 18th Amendment or tamper with the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award would imperil the federation itself.

The Bhutto scion, whose party is a key coalition ally of the PML-N in the Centre, cautioned that forces seeking to roll back fiscal and administrative autonomy were effectively "playing with fire".

Addressing the PPP's 58th Foundation Day rally via video link from Bilawal House on Sunday, Bilawal said recent proposals floated by the PML-N during deliberations over the 27th Amendment signalled a dangerous push to claw back devolved powers, reverse gains made under the 18th Amendment and weaken provincial financial protections.

"Those people who are trying to play with the NFC Award or the 18th Amendment or other such matters, or are thinking of doing so, it is as if they are playing with fire."

"Had provincial financial protections been removed, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan would have suffered massive economic losses," he said, crediting the PPP for blocking those moves.

The PPP chairman pledged to continue safeguarding NFC allocations, provincial autonomy, and democratic rights. "Pakistan's economy depends on each province, the gold of Balochistan, the coal of Thar, Karachi's trade, Punjab's farmers, Peshawar's labour and Lahore's youth. We will honour these sacrifices and expand their rights," he asserted.

"They (PML-N) wanted to bring back the system of executive magistry; they wanted back the subjects of education and population control that had been devolved to provinces in the 18th Amendment. […] Similarly, the government had other wishes," he noted.

"I have been protecting your rights and God-willing, will keep doing so," he said, adding that PPP was willing to throw its weight behind a decision that would strengthen the federation. "But the PPP can never back a decision that would weaken the federation or through which province's rights would be usurped."

"The PPP considers that there were a lot of fault lines in this country and remain," Bilawal noted, asserting that his party had historically sought to mend those fractures by securing provinces their rights, guaranteeing proper representation and reviving democratic norms.

The PPP chairman also vowed to defend parliament's authority to legislate and review constitutional decisions.

He warned that institutional overreach and extra-parliamentary interventions had historically harmed the federation, the economy, as well as the public trust.

"No institution outside parliament can override this domain. When institutions interfere in parliamentary jurisdiction, the federation and its people suffer. We will defend this space," he asserted.

Bilawal warned that Pakistan's internal vulnerabilities, including political discord and festering grievances, could once again be exploited by hostile forces, urging the state to combine military strength with "soft power" to defeat terrorism and defend national cohesion.

He praised the armed forces for downing seven Indian aircraft during the May War, saying that Pakistan had enhanced its stature globally while India, despite military humiliation, continued to "conspire against Pakistan".

Noting that Pakistan is confronting a renewed wave of terrorism spurred by widening distances with Afghanistan and external interference, he cautioned that political divisions, if weaponised, could fracture the state from within, enabling enemies to exploit "Pakistan's fault lines".

The PPP remains the only party pursuing "positive politics" geared towards stabilising the federation and strengthening democracy, he added.

He also stressed that Pakistan's economic revival required devolving powers and resources rather than centralising them. "The country will progress when powers are transferred to the lowest levels."

Bilawal called the establishment of the constitutional court, under the Charter of Democracy, a "historic success" that fulfilled an unaccomplished promise of Benazir Bhutto and ensured equal provincial representation.

He added that this corrected long-standing judicial imbalances dating back to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's "judicial murder", a trauma that scarred both the federation and the judiciary.