ISLAMABAD : Leader of the House in Senate Ishaq Dar on Tuesday categorically rejected the reports about removing the 18th Amendment from the Constitution and added that the PML-N and the PPP had signed the Charter of Democracy in 2006 for bringing reforms in the affairs related judiciary and civil-military relations.
No instructions had been given to the PML-N manifesto committee to review the 18th Amendment, he said, adding, “I want to make it clear again that the 18th Amendment wasn’t even an issue.
Speaking on a point of order in the Upper House of the Parliament, the PML-N leader – who is the closest aide to three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif – said the 18th Amendment had helped restoring the Constitution which had been defaced by the dictators – thus achieving one of the basic objectives of the Charter of Democracy.
Recalling his role in preparing the ground and finalising the landmark amendment, Dar said PPP leader Raza Rabbani and he remained active in the process.
None of the parties had even finalised their election manifestoes, he said while criticising those spreading the rumours and added that there was no proposal under consideration to dispose of the amendment.
He reminded the House that the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award was revised after a long delay in 2009. The Constitution made it clear that the NFC Award must go through a review after every five years but the exercise hadn’t been repeated, the senior PML-N leader regretted.
At the same time, Dar noted that every political party had right to advocate for constitutional changes according to its policies and goals.
The latest statement comes a day after Senator Irfan Siddiqui – the head of the PML-N’s manifesto committee – reporters in Islamabad that they had neither received any proposal nor held any deliberations to revisit the 18th Amendment or the NFC Award.
Refuting a report published in an English daily which has triggered the controversy, he said, “According to my information, this matter has never been discussed in any party meeting, nor has the party leadership given any instructions to the manifesto committee in this regard.”
