OPP Chief Says 18th Amendment Should Not Be Rolled Back; Promises to protect Parliament from institutional abuse
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addresses a public gathering in Sukkur via a video link. Photo: PPI
KARACHI:
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has warned that any attempt to dilute provincial rights enshrined in the 18th Amendment or tamper with the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award would endanger the federation itself.
The Bhutto clan, whose party is a key coalition ally of the PML-N at the centre, warned that forces seeking to roll back fiscal and administrative autonomy were effectively “playing with fire”.
Addressing the PPP’s 58th Foundation Day rally via video link from Bilawal House on Sunday, Bilawal said the latest proposals made by the PML-N during the deliberations on the 27th Amendment signaled a dangerous push to revoke devolved powers, reverse gains made under the 18th Amendment and weaken the province’s financial safeguards.
“The people who try to play with the NFC award or the 18th amendment or other things like that, or think about doing that, it’s like they’re playing with fire.”
“If the provincial financial protection had been removed, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan would have suffered massive economic losses,” he said, crediting the PPP for blocking these moves.
The PPP chairman vowed to continue to protect NFC allocations, provincial autonomy and democratic rights. “Pakistan’s economy depends on every province, Balochistan’s gold, Thar’s coal, Karachi’s trade, Punjab’s farmers, Peshawar’s labor and Lahore’s youth. We will honor these victims and extend their rights,” he asserted.
“They (PML-N) wanted to bring back the system of executive magistrate; they wanted back the subjects of education and population control which had been handed over to the provinces in the 18th Amendment. [ ] Similarly, the government had other wishes,” he noted.
“I have protected your rights and would like to continue to do so,” he said, adding that the PPP was willing to throw its weight behind a resolution that would strengthen the federation. “But the PPP can never support a decision that would weaken the federation or through which the rights of the province would be usurped.”
“The PPP believes that there were many fault lines in this country and still are,” Bilawal noted, arguing that his party had historically tried to repair these ruptures by securing the provinces their rights, guaranteeing proper representation and reviving democratic norms.
The PPP chairman also vowed to defend parliament’s authority to legislate and review constitutional decisions.
He warned that institutional abuses and extra-parliamentary interventions had historically damaged the federation, the economy as well as public confidence.
“No institution outside parliament can override this domain. When institutions interfere with parliamentary jurisdiction, the federation and its people suffer. We will defend this area,” he asserted.
Bilawal warned that Pakistan’s internal vulnerabilities, including political discord and ill will, could again be exploited by hostile forces, and urged the state to combine military force with “soft power” to defeat terrorism and defend national cohesion.
He praised the armed forces for shooting down seven Indian planes during the May War and said Pakistan had improved its standing globally, while India, despite military humiliation, continued to “conspire against Pakistan”.
Noting that Pakistan is confronting a renewed wave of terrorism spurred by widening distances to Afghanistan and external interference, he warned that political divisions, if weaponized, could fracture the state from within, allowing enemies to exploit “Pakistan’s fault lines”.
The PPP remains the only party pursuing “positive policies” aimed at stabilizing the federation and strengthening democracy, he added.
He also emphasized that Pakistan’s economic revival required decentralization of powers and resources instead of centralizing them. “The country will make progress when power is transferred to the lowest levels.”
Bilawal called the establishment of the Constitutional Court under the Charter of Democracy a “historic success” that fulfilled an unfulfilled promise of Benazir Bhutto and ensured equal provincial representation.
He added that this corrected long-standing judicial imbalances dating back to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s “judicial murder”, a trauma that scarred both the federation and the judiciary.
