LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party has said it won’t compromise on financial and administrative powers of the federating units, as enshrined in the 18thAmendment to the Constitution.

“The party will never compromise on financial and administrative powers of the provinces,” party’s Punjab chapter President Qamar Zaman Kaira told a press conference here on Tuesday.

Flanked by other leaders — Chaudhry Manzoor, Hassan Murtaza and Malik Usman — Mr Kaira said the platform for discussing constitutional amendment was the parliament and not the TV talk shows or other public forums.

He said the Constitution, and not the 18thAmendment, would be amended, if need be, “but it was a very serious and delicate work”.

He warned that if the government attempted to “misuse” the law the PPP would oppose it tooth and nail.

Kaira warns that PM, cabinet to be held responsible if virus goes out of control

He demanded that the federal government release funds of Punjab due under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award to improve the province’s financial position so that it could fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Referring to the ongoing debate on building national consensus against the disease, he said it’s responsibility of the government to bring all parties together but, he regretted, it failed to come up to the expectations.

He said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had extended more than once the offer of fully cooperate with the federal government to curb the virus, but the latter never responded positively.

The PPP leader said the prime minister and his cabinet would be held responsible in case situation deteriorates in the country because of the Covid-19.

He said the Punjab government was already facing financial crunch while it was failing to meet tax collection targets. As a result, he said, allocations for social sector were being reduced to bridge the gap.

The former federal minister said that to divert the public’s attention from its “ineptness to handle” coronavirus issue, the government raised the issue of 18thAmendment.

He said the Sindh government had suggested a 15-day complete lockdown to control the virus but the federal government didn’t accept it and now all, including the Supreme Court, were saying that the issue required a uniform strategy.

He recalled that both the PPP and the PML-N during their respective terms in power had been successfully developing national consensus against terrorism and on other issues. Now it was the duty of the prime minister to make all parties sit together for devising a joint strategy to control the pandemic.

If the PTI government could not do the needful, then the PPP was ready to convene an all-party conference for developing consensus on the issue.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2020