Khursheed Shah says lack of trust between Centre and provinces can only be removed with CCI meeting
Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah on Wednesday said that lack of confidence was increasing between the Federation and the provinces, while the country was facing both internal and external challenges.
The provinces of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had openly expressed their differences with the Centre on many issues, he said while speaking in the National Assembly on a point of order.
He said the federal government was not serious about removing the lack of trust that the provinces felt, and this was evident from their refusing to call a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
The CCI is the forum where problems between the provinces and the Centre can be resolved. According to the 1973 Constitution, its sessions should be held twice a year. But the federal government was not calling its session fearing that the provinces would raise the issues being faced by them. The government’s actions are completely deviating from the Constitution, he added.
The opposition leader said the federal government was not giving due respect to the Parliament. It was evident from the fact that neither Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nor his cabinet members, except a few, attended the sessions, which was a matter of serious concern.
Khursheed Shah said the Parliament had helped the government on many occasions and helped it emerge unscathed from many troubled situations. Since the government now considered itself secure, it was ignoring the Parliament.
He said it was regretted that a third of the members of the House belonged to the opposition, but their presence in the House outnumbered those present on the treasury bench.
The parliament, he said, was “mother of all institutions.” If it were strong then all other institutions would be strong. If the parliament were unable to carry out its main function of legislation and guiding the government in devising national policies, then it would lose its importance.
He said the legislation process was too slow. The present government had completed almost three years of its tenure and got only 37 bills passed from the parliament until date, while the last government had enacted some 61 bills during its first two and a half years.
The parliament stands nowhere if every matter is to be decided by courts, he said, adding that the Memo scandal was hatched only to weaken the very institution.
He said the parliament had lost people’s trust. But the government was not taking it serious. The contradiction in the statement of advisor to the prime minister on foreign affairs at the floor of the house had made the country a laughing stock in the world.
He urged the speaker to take notice of the “indifferent attitude” being meted to the parliament by the government.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Dr Arif Alvi said that as per the Constitution, the CCI should meet after every 90 days and it should have a permanent office.
