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Sunday, October 6, 2024

18th Amendment not a religious document, says Firdous Naqvi

News Desk |

The Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi said on Saturday the 18th Constitutional Amendment was not a religious document which could not be changed.

He, while speaking to the press, asserted that the PTI government would bring a necessary amendment in the law. Naqvi said that the PTI government inherited the current economic crisis from the past governments.

President Arif Alvi was reported in March by a section of the press as saying that there was no harm if the parliamentary system of government was replaced with the presidential form.

He blamed the previous governments of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for taking huge loans that led to the economic downfall of the country. Naqvi said that the economic hardships facing the people of the country would end as soon as the corrective steps taken by the current government started to bear fruit.

The leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly said that the country’s economy would stabilize owing to the measures taken by the PTI government.

Read more: PM has never asked for rolling back 18th amendment: Farogh Nasim

Earlier, President Arif Alvi was reported in March by a section of the press as saying that there was no harm if the parliamentary system of government was replaced with the presidential form, but the continuation of democracy and the will of people should be given due consideration.

Govt Targeting an Increase in Revenue Collection

“We are trying to enhance revenue collection and cut external debt,” the PTI leader said. He said that the PPP’s fear and worry was former president Asif Ali Zardari’s arrest. Naqvi said that the PTI could not be intimidated by threats of a long march. “We can also reply in the same coin by holding a long march,” he said.

The bill reversed many amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan made over several decades by military governments.

He said that Sindh government’s land was being sold at throwaway prices, water was being stolen in the province, and hospitals were in ruins.

Read more: IS PTI going to repeal 18th Amendment?

Bilawal Threatens of March on Islamabad

Earlier, on Friday, April 12, the PPP Chairperson, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had said that the PPP would stage a march on Islamabad if efforts were made to interfere with the 18th Amendment. He was speaking to a public gathering in Ghotki.

“If you try to tinker with the 18th Amendment there will be ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’ in the country,” Bilawal had shouted in his typical fashion.

The 18th Amendment 

The 18th Amendment of the Constitution of Pakistan was passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan on April 8, 2010, removing the powers of the president of Pakistan to dissolve the parliament unilaterally, turning Pakistan from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary republic.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had said that the PPP would stage a march on Islamabad if efforts were made to interfere with the 18th Amendment. He was speaking to a public gathering in Ghotki.

The package was intended to counter the sweeping powers amassed by the presidency under former Presidents General Pervez Musharraf and General Muhammad Ziaul Haq and to reform political practices in Pakistan.

Read more: Who made the 18th amendment controversial; PML-N or military establishment?

The bill reversed many amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan made over several decades by military governments. The amendment bill was passed by the Senate of Pakistan on April 15, 2010, and it became an act of parliament when President Asif Ali Zardari put his signature on the bill on April 19, 2010.