Apropos "Oil & gas: speakers underscore need for revisiting 18th Amendment" carried by the newspaper on 05-10-2016, we would like to inform your readers that there is no confusion on the 18th Amendment. It would have been appreciated had the provinces been invited to such an interesting seminar.
A one-sided discussion is never productive. The 18th Amendment, especially Article 172-3, is crystal clear that the provinces can legislate and execute the upstream sector and can have their own regulatory bodies. Eminent lawyer Mr. Arif has based his arguments on the Act of 1948; this Act cannot supersede a constitutional Article (172). For matter of record, there are no lacunae. It is just a matter of time when the provinces shall attain full capacity to take over responsibilities from the Federal Government in this process of devolution. Rather than creating confusion, it will be productive that we work as a team.