Parties want 19th Amendment to address demand for new provinces

Some political parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) wanted further amendments to the Constitution through 19th Amendment to address the controversy emerged over the renaming of NWFP and the demand for creation of new provinces in the country, reliable sources told Business Recorder.
According to sources, these political parties wanted these issues should be taken up by the Raza Rabbani-led Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) or a new committee be formed to address the demand for new provinces. They said creation of new provinces is a contentious and complicated issue, so the committee should study the demand from every aspect including infrastructure, management and administrative capacity.
They said the committee should see whether the country is economically in a position to create new provinces. They said that the Committee has to study thoroughly these aspects before preparing the draft of the proposed 19th Amendment. When contacted, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Wasim Sajjad, who is a senior leader of PML-Q, told Business Recorder that his party would support 19th Amendment if brought with consensus in the Parliament to resolve the issues of renaming of the NWFP and creation of the new provinces.
He said that the main function of the Parliament is to make legislation for resolving the problems and securing rights of the people. He said the people of Hazara division have reservations over Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa and their reservations should be addressed through 19th amendment.
Iqbal Zafar Jaghra of PML-N said if the people of Hazara Division want separate province and it is in the interest of the nation and country then it should be considered. To a question he said creation of new province is not an easy task and the possible repercussion of such a development should be kept in mind.
"First we have to ascertain whether economically the country is in a position for creation of new provinces, as the renaming of NWFP would cost national exchequer by Rs 8 billion," he added. He asked the government to address the reservations of the people of Hazara.
MQM has proposed to bring another amendment to resolve the issue of renaming of NWFP and creation of provinces. Federal Minister for Port and Shipping Senator Babr Khan Ghori had already stated on the floor of the house during the debate on the 18th amendment that there was a need to bring another amendment to resolve the remaining issues and other problems of the provinces, which were not addressed through 18th amendment.