Pakistan Muslim League-Q makes hay while the sun shines

As the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) is the only hope for the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government to survive the jolt it suffered with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)’s departure from the federal and Sindh governments, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain exerted pressure on Tuesday on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for allocation of new but “meaningful” portfolios to his party’s ministers whose ministries would stand devolved on June 30 (tomorrow) following the cabinet’s approval.
Realising that the government could not afford to say “no” to the PML-Q at this politically critical time, Prime Minister Gilani agreed to Shujaat’s demand and promised that PML-Q ministers would be given important portfolios in a few days by reshuffling the federal cabinet. A source told Pakistan Today that Shujaat, accompanied by Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf and Akram Masih Gill, called on the PM prior to the cabinet meeting and asked him to make sure that none of them were left without a portfolio.
LAST SEVEN MINISTRIES: Later, the federal cabinet, after a brief controversy, gave approval to the devolution of seven ministries/divisions in the third phase of the devolution process, making a landmark achievement by completely abolishing the concurrent list – a commitment made in 1973. The cabinet took up a one-point agenda of devolution and approved the process. The MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar and Awami National Party (ANP)’s Afrasiab Khattak attended a separate meeting of the Implementation Commission prior to the cabinet meeting, with 18th Amendment Implementation Commission Chairman Raza Rabbani in the chair to approve the briefing for the cabinet on the devolution process.
Rabbani briefed the meeting in detail on the transfer of ministries to the provinces. He also submitted three summaries to amend the rules to enable the devolution. The source said the only argument against the devolution process was raised when Housing and Works Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat termed the devolution of the Women’s Development Ministry a negation of former PM Benzair Bhutto’s dream to empower women. He said it was ironic that the PPP government was now devolving a ministry which Benazir Bhutto had created.
However, the source added, the PM responded to the argument by saying that devolution of powers was also a commitment made by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and it was an achievement of his (Gilani’s) government. Briefing reporters about the cabinet’s decisions, Rabbani said the cabinet approved the devolution of another seven ministries, namely Women’s Development, Food and Agriculture, Sports, Environment, Labour and Manpower, Health and Minorities Affairs, in the third and final phase. Ten federal ministries, that of Youth Affairs, Population Welfare, Zakat and Ushr, Special Initiatives and Local Government and Rural Development, Tourism, Culture, Social Welfare and Dairy and Livestock have already been devolved in the previous two phases.
FEDERAL GOVT TO RETAIN SOME FUNCTIONS: Rabbani also said that certain functions of the devolved ministries, which pertained to national and international importance, would be retained by the federal government. The functions to be retained by the federal government included the Industrial Relations Ordinance of 2002, coordination and implementation of international agreements of an environmental nature, Drug Regulatory Agency and the National Commission on the Status of Women.
Rabbani said 37,429 employees were affected by the devolution but not a single employee was laid off. He said that around 4,253 project employees were transferred to the provinces and 21,717 were adjusted in the federal government ministries, while the remaining would also be adjusted in the federal government. He also said that 500 posts were currently vacant in the Establishment Division. However, Rabbani admitted that the devolution of these ministries did not mean full provincial autonomy but was a step forward as autonomy was an evolutionary process, which would be finished with the passage of time.
ABOLITION OF CONCURRENT LISTS: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who chaired the special meeting of the cabinet, said that abolition of the constitution’s concurrent list was a major step towards provincial autonomy, providing them legitimate rights in governance. He said democracy could not be strengthened by words alone unless these were matched by deeds, adding that the passage of the 18th Amendment and its implementation was the beginning of the establishment of a stable democratic polity in the country.