NA extends quota system for another
20 years
16th Amendment passed by two-thirds
majority
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Lower House on Tuesday
passed the 16th Constitutional Amendment by two-thirds majority, extending
the provincial quota system for another 20 years. Only the Muttahida Qaumi
Movement (MQM) opposed the amendment.
One hundred and sixty two members
from the treasury benches combined with those from the opposition and independent
benches passed the amendment in Article 27 of the Constitution. Four MQM
members, who were present, opposed the amendment. The Leader of the House,
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, though present in Parliament building, refrained
from attending and casting his vote as he was sure that the opposition
and independent members (who had their own interest in seeing the amendment
being incorporated) would support the amendment.
The amendment was moved by Law Minister
Senator Khalid Anwer, who himself could not vote as he belonged to the
Upper House. It is for the first time in nearly three years that the Pakistan
Muslim League could not demonstrate its two-thirds majority in the Lower
House, whereas in the past it used its majority to pass any bill or amendment
that it wished to bring.
If it was not for the 29 votes from
the opposition and independent members, the government could only muster
about 133 votes, still short of the target of 146 which is the minimum
if the government wanted to amend the Constitution. In these 133 votes
were included those sitting on the FATA and minority benches and one BNP
member. The PML(N) itself has 135 members in the Lower House.
According to the statement of objects
and reasons Article 27 of the Constitution provides safeguards against
discrimination in services. In order to provide opportunity and representation
to all classes of persons and areas in services, Clause (1) of the said
article provides that for a period not exceeding 20 years from the commencing
day of the Constitution, certain posts may be reserved for persons belonging
to any class or areas. It has been felt that since equal opportunity of
education and other facilities are not yet available to all citizens of
Pakistan, the period of 20 years specified in Clause(1) of Article 27 ibid,
be extended to 40 years.
In fact some PML members from the
Punjab, though they voted for the amendment, said in private that after
52 years time had come to do away with quotas in the country. Speaker Illahi
Bakhsh Soomro was extremely impatient with the MQM members and at one time
they were even denied a point of self explanation when a charge was made
against them by PML member from Karachi Ejaz Shafi. All the amendments
coming from the MQM were voted out.
The MQM members, Kunwar Khalid Yunus,
Arif Khan, Dr Nishat Malik and Tariq Javed, failed to make impressive speeches
and their yelling and screaming did not help as it made the speaker even
more angry. Kunwar Khalid Yunus was an exception but the chair did not
give him enough time. "After all we are amending the Constitution and we
are only four members so why are our voices not being heard? Please stop
throttling our voices," said Kunwar Khalid.
The MQM members said that nowhere
in the other three provinces was there a divide of the rural and urban
like in Sindh. This they said was unfair when even in Punjab, where the
Saraiki belt constitutes 40 per cent of the province, the inhabitants were
deprived of jobs. The members felt that there was one instance where for
grade 11 jobs there was only one vacancy from urban Sindh while two disabled
people had seats reserved in the same post. "Don't push us towards the
wall, do not make another Bangladesh," they cautioned.
Arif Khan fell upon the ruling of
the Shariat Court which had ruled that quota system was un-Islamic. "Is
this justice in Islam? It is the rich and landlord class which is ruling
this country," he siad. Minority member Peter John Sahotra on a point of
order said that though he was not opposing the amendment the law minister
at this stage should also incorporate a quota for the minorities in the
country.
"No minority was represented when
the Constitution was being framed but today you have a chance to do so,"
he pleaded. However the law minister did not hear this suggestion as he
was busy in conversation. Later, the house was prorogued sine die. The
speaker read out the prorogation orders of the President.
The National Assembly had in 1974
passed a bill by amending the Constitution, fixing quota system for different
provinces in the country for a period of 10 years. In 1984, the period
was extended by another 10 years, during the regime of late General Ziaul
Haq. It was later felt that since equal opportunity of education and other
facilities are not yet available to all citizens of Pakistan, the period
of twenty years specified in Clause (1) of Article 27 of the Constitution
be extended to forty years. The smaller provinces, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan,
are in favour of continuation of the quota system.
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