The top leadership of the federal coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) pointed out on Thursday that constitutional provisions require the creation of new provinces after certain conditions are met, as politicking heats up ahead of a possible 28th constitutional amendment.
The party claimed on Monday that its proposed constitutional amendment, aimed at empowering local governments, would now be advanced as the 28th amendment, marking what the party called a “national, not merely Karachi-centric” reform initiative which would materialise in the coming months.
Speaking to reporters in Chiniot earlier, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah had also said that the 28th amendment, dealing with “public issues such as local bodies, population, the National Finance Commission … health-related issues”, could be introduced if there was political consensus.
The top leadership of MQM-P addressed a press conference in Karachi, flanked by Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, in which it again raised issues regarding new provinces and local governments.
“A constitutional article also talks about and demands the formation of more provinces; it is not giving the authority but demands that whenever the population and the need increases”, hence, there should be increase in the number of districts, divisions, and even provinces as per Article 239, said Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.
Article 239 controls the process of creating new provinces and requires a two-thirds majority in separate votes in the two houses of Parliament and then a further two-thirds majority in the provincial assembly of the affected province.
Siddiqui also questioned whether acting on a constitutional article could amount to treachery, instead stating that not acting through and implementing it would be a “betrayal”.
“This right of creating provinces in the Constitution is there since the time of Bhutto.”
He further said that “there is a lot of hue and cry over two of our demands and both of them are written in the Constitution. Only Pakistan’s rulers have this luxury in the whole world that they act on whichever constitutional provision they want and not on others”.
“Do rulers in other genuine democracies have this choice? We should accept that the democracy here is [made up] of landowners and feudals in Pakistan and where this [system] is present, democracy cannot exist.”
He added that education and progress could not be present in such a system.
Siddiqui added that the third tier of government was the most powerful and strengthened in the developed world and genuine democracies.
He said the party did not want anything for itself and only desired that the constitutional rights of the people be provided to them.
“No one has need for a democracy whose benefits can’t reach the common people.”
The MQM-P leader further said the party possessed no control of any rung of government and called for the Karachi mayor to be truly empowered in line with the mayors of other big metropolitan cities.