ISLAMABAD: In what appeared to be a major set back to the devolution process, the Senate Standing Committee on Culture and Tourism on Monday passed a unanimous resolution demanding the government not devolve the ministry to the provinces under the 18th Amendment.
The committee also decided to approach the president, prime minister and chairman implementation commission on the issue. The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Culture and Tourism was presided over by Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar.
It discussed the proposed devolution of Ministry of Culture and Central Board of Film Censor (CBF) in the next phase and unanimously passed a resolution against the decision. The committee stated that functions performed by the Ministry of Culture and its attached departments and autonomous organisations should not be devolved to the provinces in pursuance of the 18th Amendment in the constitution, because the culture of the country could not be divided.
Culture Secretary Moeenul Islam contended before the committee that there was no harm in devolving subjects in concurrent list to the provinces, but the devolution of federal list could create problems.
He said that the ministries falling in federal list had agreements with international bodies and countries and it was important for these departments to be at federal level to abide by these agreements.
The secretary said 12 museums, Quaid-e-Azam Academy, Lok Virsa, Pakistan Council of Arts, Pakistan Institute of Archaeology, Central Board of Film Censor fell under the federal list, which must be dealt at the federal level.
They unanimously recommended that the Implementation Commission on devolution should be requested to consider the resolution favourably. The ministry also decided to write a letter to Raza Rabbani to reconsider the decision and keep the Ministry of Culture with the federal government.
Senator Pervez Rashid was of the view that some of the subjects falling in the definition of culture should be given to the provinces and the rest should remain with the Centre.
However, the chairperson of the committee, Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar observed that culture of any country reflected its identity and this identity could not be separated or divided.
The federal minister for culture also agreed to the point and said culture projects soft image of a country.
The committee also unanimously recommended that the Film Censor Board should continue working at the Centre and should not be devolved to the provinces.
The meeting was attended by Senators Farah Aqil, Senator Gulshan Saeed, Senator Sabina Rauf, Senator Salahuddin Dogar and Senator Pervez Rashid.
