LAHORE: The provincial governments seem the least interested in implementing the 18th Amendment to the Constitution even after the passage of eight years. The provinces have not even shown interest in discussing the procedures, what to say of legislation aimed at implementation of the amendment, said Senator Mir Kabeer Ahmad Muhammad Shahi, chairman of the Senate’s Functional Committee on Devolution Process.

Chairing a provincial consultation meeting on implementation of 18th Amendment at a local hotel on Thursday, Mr Shahi said only 10pc of the devolution process had so far been completed.

The committee meeting passed 12-point Lahore Declaration, urging the federal and provincial governments to take every possible step to ensure that the 18th constitutional amendment was implemented in letter and spirit and its benefits transmitted to the common people.

Mr Shahi lamented that non-seriousness of the legislators and other stakeholders could be gauged from the fact that neither any MNA nor any provincial cabinet member in Punjab bothered to attend the meeting despite invitation and reminders.

Senate body passes Lahore Declaration, urging govts to take steps for devolution

“The provinces should have come to us for the constitutional amendment’s implementation but now the devolution process committee itself is visiting provinces to educate them,” he maintained.

Urging the provinces to take interest in the devolution process and do required legislation, Mr Shahi said the committee had twice visited Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab and would visit Peshawar second time on Jan 11.

Speaking on the occasion, the senators and MPAs stressed that the provinces’ autonomy should be strengthened through the gradual devolution process. They said the federation must continue coordinating with the provinces for proper implementation of the 18th Amendment.

The senators, including Kamal Ali Agha, Prof Sajid Mir, Dr Ghaus Niazi, Taj Haider, Maulana Attaur Rehman, as well as MPAs from the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) spoke on the occasion.

The senators said provinces wanted to grab resources under devolution but restrained themselves from showing interest in taking up responsibilities. They said many departments were facing problems due to unclear devolution process.

The 12-point Lahore Declaration, passed by the committee, said any attempt to bypass and undermine the jurisdiction and powers of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) should be stopped forthwith. The CCI had been given a new role under the 18th constitutional amendment to provide the Centre and provinces a forum to take consensus decisions on conflicting issues. The declaration said that this forum should be effectively utilised to address the issues being faced by the provinces regarding implementation of devolution scheme.

It said the true benefits of the paradigm shift, by giving more provincial autonomy, were yet to be reaped. Therefore, it added, administrative and financial responsibility and authority should be devolved to the elected representatives of the local governments in letter and spirit to ensure the true spirit of federalism.

The committee meeting agreed that the federal government should establish a dedicated ‘devolution cell’ to deal with the issues pertaining to devolution and provide support to provinces and provincial legislatures should also constitute such a ‘committee on devolution’.

It said ‘devolution’ should be part of charters of all political parties in the country and MPAs should utilise different parliamentary tools to highlight the impediments in the way of devolution and ensure accountability of the federal and provincial governments.

Acknowledging that higher education is the lifeline of Pakistan, the declaration stressed the Functional Committee on Devolution should take up the intricate matter of devolution of functions of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and provide a forum to all stakeholders, including universities, federal and provincial governments and provincial HECs, to review the HEC Ordinance 2002 to ensure that item 12 of the Federal Legislative List Part-II is implemented in letter and spirit.

The declaration said the eighth National Finance Commission (NFC) award should be announced on a priority basis after incorporating measures that would make devolution more meaningful in raising the living standards of the common citizens.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2018