By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, warned on Sunday that any attempt to roll back the constitutional protections for provincial rights enshrined in the 18th Amendment would be akin to “playing with fire,” as he defended his party’s role in safeguarding the country’s federal structure amid ongoing political tensions.
In a video address marking the 58th anniversary of the party’s founding, streamed live to gatherings in more than 100 districts across Pakistan, Bhutto-Zardari invoked the risks of exacerbating internal divisions at a time of external pressures, including recent aggressive statements from India’s defence minister about the province of Sindh and escalating frictions along the Afghan border.
“The PPP considers that there were a lot of faultlines in this country and remain,” he said. “Those people who are trying to play with the NFC Award or the 18th Amendment or other such matters, or are thinking of doing so, it is as if they are playing with fire.”
The remarks come against the backdrop of recent constitutional changes under the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, which had proposed alterations to the National Finance Commission award governing the distribution of financial resources to provinces. Those proposals were ultimately rejected by the PPP and excluded from the final version of the 27th Amendment.
Bhutto-Zardari praised his party for “saving the constitutional guarantee of the provinces’ financial share,” and detailed other PML-N ideas that had been rebuffed, including a return to the system of executive magistracy and the reclamation of authority over education and population control, subjects devolved to provinces under the 18th Amendment. “They wanted to bring back the system of executive magistry; they wanted back the subjects of education and population control that had been devolved to provinces in the 18th Amendment,” he said. “Similarly, the government had other wishes.”
Bhutto-Zardari, the scion of one of Pakistan’s most prominent political dynasties, said the PPP is willing to back measures that bolster the federation, but drew a firm line against any that undermine it. “But the PPP can never back a decision that would weaken the federation or through which province’s rights would be usurped,” he asserted. “I have been protecting your rights and God-willing, will keep doing so.”
Bhutto-Zardari urged unity in the face of external threats, saying the government “could see” the provocative comments from India’s defence minister and the border tensions with Afghanistan. “We will try our best that the internal faultlines in Pakistan are addressed, instead of providing any forces the chance to misuse or take advantage of our faultlines.” If Pakistan stands together, he added, it can confront any challenge, “including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and all sorts of conspiracies.”
A significant portion of the address focused on the newly established Federal Constitutional Court, created under the 27th Amendment after being omitted from the earlier 26th Amendment, a reform long championed by the PPP. The court has supplanted the Supreme Court as the apex judicial body for constitutional matters, sparking debates over judicial independence, with concerns raised by international experts and judges. “Some people are trying to make this constitutional court controversial,” Bhutto-Zardari said, expressing hope that the institution would “prove all those wrong through its character.”
He rebuked efforts to challenge the amendment through non-parliamentary means, stressing that legislative authority rests with elected representatives. “If someone is demanding that a court or a judge decide on whether the Amendment can remain or not, it is not their authority, and neither will we allow that any other institution interferes in the parliament.”
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