20:14
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ISLAMABAD: The Seraiki Commission, headed by Senator Farhatullah Babar, to create a new province in Punjab is dead and gone as even those who ambitiously formed it with immense fanfare are no longer interested in making it functional.
Senator Babar, who is also adviser to President Asif Ali Zardari on information, was not available for comments despite efforts by The News for two days.
However, another source said that the ruling PPP, which was too eager when Yusuf Raza Gilani was prime minister, has other priorities to pursue than going for a tough gamble of amending the Constitution through a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and Senate to create the new province.
He said that the PPP did not want to embark upon any risky venture just a few months before the next general elections. Any wrong move at this stage has the potential of impinging hard on its campaign, he apprehended.
President Zardari himself told former PM Gilani and some PPP leaders during his Multan visit on Friday that the PPP did not have the majority in Parliament to get the amendment passed by a 2/3rd vote.
Gilani is crying hoarse that he has been penalized for lobbying hard for the Seraiki province, but nobody is willing to buy his argument and everyone believes that he fell for other reasons some of which were of his own making.
The one-month time that was given to the Babar Commission to finalize its recommendations expired some seven weeks back. There is no move afoot to give extension to it. Even no government leader now talks about having the Seraiki province.
At the government level, there is no apparent sense of urgency or necessity, and it’s obvious that the plan has been discarded.As prime minister, Gilani worked to have the Seraiki province and often generated debate on it through his antics. After his disqualification and ouster, he too is not discussing it quite often, knowing his highly diminished influence and clout in the government as well as the PPP.
The source said serious objections have been raised by the concerned legal department over the very legality of the commission. For this reason, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza hasn’t formally spelt out its powers, addressing different reservations.
When the Babar Commission worked, it held just a couple of preliminary but inconsequential meetings. Getting extension is not a problem but first there has to be willingness, which is lacking, on the part of the ruling alliance to make it operational, the source said. The commission has also not framed its rules because its legality has been in question.
A key factor, which has made it lose its steam, is the boycott of its proceedings by the three PML-N MPs, who were nominated by the speaker without taking their party into confidence.
Yet another reason discouraging for the body is the Punjab Assembly speaker’s refusal to name two members, one each from the government party and the opposition benches. He even threatened to challenge the formation of the commission in a superior court.
A senior PML-N leader said that there was no change in his party’s policy towards the Babar Commission. “Why is only Punjab being targeted for division? If the aim is to split the majority province only, then why have the nominees of some parliamentary parties, having no representation in the Punjab Assembly or public say here, been opted for the commission?
He said that it would be advisable to settle the conclusive principles and guidelines once and for all following which new provinces should be created. Focusing on one province only is ill-advised and irresponsible.
Clause 4 of Article 239 of the Constitution prescribes the procedure to create new provinces. It says a bill to amend the Constitution which would have the effect of altering the limits of a province shall not be presented to the president for assent unless it has been passed by the concerned provincial assembly by the votes of not less than two-thirds of its total membership.
Thus, even after its passage in the two Houses of Parliament, such a bill would have to be approved by the Punjab assembly with 2/3 majority before its presentation to the president where the ruling alliance has no such number.
This clause makes no mention of any parliamentary commission that the speaker has formed and convened. Also, it doesn’t talk about any role of the president or his reference.
The commission was constituted in pursuance of a reference sent to the speaker by the president, which was read out in the National Assembly some time back, in the wake of a resolution passed by the National Assembly, and two motions approved by the Punjab legislature, which were jointly sponsored by the PPP and PML-N.However, later the PML-N dominated Punjab assembly passed another resolution rejecting the parliamentary commission.
Senator Babar, who is also adviser to President Asif Ali Zardari on information, was not available for comments despite efforts by The News for two days.
However, another source said that the ruling PPP, which was too eager when Yusuf Raza Gilani was prime minister, has other priorities to pursue than going for a tough gamble of amending the Constitution through a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and Senate to create the new province.
He said that the PPP did not want to embark upon any risky venture just a few months before the next general elections. Any wrong move at this stage has the potential of impinging hard on its campaign, he apprehended.
President Zardari himself told former PM Gilani and some PPP leaders during his Multan visit on Friday that the PPP did not have the majority in Parliament to get the amendment passed by a 2/3rd vote.
Gilani is crying hoarse that he has been penalized for lobbying hard for the Seraiki province, but nobody is willing to buy his argument and everyone believes that he fell for other reasons some of which were of his own making.
The one-month time that was given to the Babar Commission to finalize its recommendations expired some seven weeks back. There is no move afoot to give extension to it. Even no government leader now talks about having the Seraiki province.
At the government level, there is no apparent sense of urgency or necessity, and it’s obvious that the plan has been discarded.As prime minister, Gilani worked to have the Seraiki province and often generated debate on it through his antics. After his disqualification and ouster, he too is not discussing it quite often, knowing his highly diminished influence and clout in the government as well as the PPP.
The source said serious objections have been raised by the concerned legal department over the very legality of the commission. For this reason, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza hasn’t formally spelt out its powers, addressing different reservations.
When the Babar Commission worked, it held just a couple of preliminary but inconsequential meetings. Getting extension is not a problem but first there has to be willingness, which is lacking, on the part of the ruling alliance to make it operational, the source said. The commission has also not framed its rules because its legality has been in question.
A key factor, which has made it lose its steam, is the boycott of its proceedings by the three PML-N MPs, who were nominated by the speaker without taking their party into confidence.
Yet another reason discouraging for the body is the Punjab Assembly speaker’s refusal to name two members, one each from the government party and the opposition benches. He even threatened to challenge the formation of the commission in a superior court.
A senior PML-N leader said that there was no change in his party’s policy towards the Babar Commission. “Why is only Punjab being targeted for division? If the aim is to split the majority province only, then why have the nominees of some parliamentary parties, having no representation in the Punjab Assembly or public say here, been opted for the commission?
He said that it would be advisable to settle the conclusive principles and guidelines once and for all following which new provinces should be created. Focusing on one province only is ill-advised and irresponsible.
Clause 4 of Article 239 of the Constitution prescribes the procedure to create new provinces. It says a bill to amend the Constitution which would have the effect of altering the limits of a province shall not be presented to the president for assent unless it has been passed by the concerned provincial assembly by the votes of not less than two-thirds of its total membership.
Thus, even after its passage in the two Houses of Parliament, such a bill would have to be approved by the Punjab assembly with 2/3 majority before its presentation to the president where the ruling alliance has no such number.
This clause makes no mention of any parliamentary commission that the speaker has formed and convened. Also, it doesn’t talk about any role of the president or his reference.
The commission was constituted in pursuance of a reference sent to the speaker by the president, which was read out in the National Assembly some time back, in the wake of a resolution passed by the National Assembly, and two motions approved by the Punjab legislature, which were jointly sponsored by the PPP and PML-N.However, later the PML-N dominated Punjab assembly passed another resolution rejecting the parliamentary commission.
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