18th Constitutional Amendment & provincial autonomy the revolutionary step after the creation of Pakistan- Mian Iftikhar

Peshawar, March 09, 2011 (PPI): Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) & Information and Chairman of the Oversight Committee on Implementation of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that approval of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, omission of concurrent legislative list and the resultant provincial autonomy was the big and revolutionary step after the creation of Pakistan which no one could imagine it in the past.

This, he stated, while attending a presentation on progress on implementation of the 18th Constitutional Amendment at Provincial level at Peshawar on Wednesday. Member of the Implementation Commission on 18thConstitutional Amendment of Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa, Senator Afrasiab Khattak also attended the presentation.

Secretary IPC, Mushtaq Jadoon, on this occasion, besides, informing the minister about the progress on implementation process of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, also apprised about the decisions of the recently held meeting of IPC Committee. He told that the provincial government did a lot in this regard and the additional responsibilities have been assigned to the departments concerned besides bringing necessary changes in the rules and regulations for the purpose.

Secretary IPC further told that the department has also prepared a separate list of the provinces related amendments of the 18th Constitutional Amendment for convenience of the government functionaries.

Briefly speaking on the occasion, Chairman of the Oversight Committee Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said that approval of the 18th Constitutional Amendment and omission of concurrent list was a silent revolution and it would have positive and lasting impacts on the socio-economic condition of the people of the province. As 18thConstitutional Amendment was first experience after creation of Pakistan, therefore, there might be some deficiencies, which would be tackled with political and democratic sagacity, he added.

The minister continued that unanimity on the issue of 18th Constitutional Amendment by all the political parties was a big achievement and great success of the political leadership of the country. He said that the amendments related to the provinces in the 18th Constitutional Amendment, prepared by the IPC department would be published in a booklet form as it was an important document.

Afrasiab Khattak, on this occasion, told that it was the quality of the federal as well as provincial governments that they were making all the decisions with mutual understanding and consultations. He termed the approval of 18th Constitutional Amendment, a real shape of the mutual understanding and consultations of all the big and small political parties of the country