Amendment in Article 160 (3A): Rabbani terms move amounts to 'contempt of Parliament'

ISLAMABAD: The federal government's plan to amend Article 160 (3A) of the Constitution aimed at "revisiting resource distribution" among the provinces on dictation of International Monetary Fund (IMF), and giving a false assurance in the House amounts to "contempt of the Parliament".

This was stated by senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Senator Raza Rabbani, who was one of the architects of the 18th Constitutional Amendment under which the Article 160 (3A) was made part of the Constitution, which reads, "the share of the provinces in each award of National Finance Commission shall not be less than the share given to the provinces in the previous award".

A recent attempt to amend the Article 160 (3A) was thwarted by the opposition in the Senate on July 13th, when Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM), a coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), sought to introduce a bill in the House, which was rejected by a 25-17 majority. "This indeed, is contempt of the Parliament to agree with an international financial institution on amending an Article of the Constitution without taking the House into confidence," Rabbani said, while talking to Business Recorder.

Rabbani did not specify whether his party intends to take up "contempt of the Parliament" issue at the relevant forum or not.

He asserted that the government had earlier made a statement in the Senate with regards to the IMF condition of "revisiting resource distribution" that it had no intention of a possible cut in share of the federating units.

"Giving a false assurance in the House amounts to contempt of the Parliament," he said, adding that the opposition had on many occasions pressed the government to present the agreement with the IMF in the Parliament, which it failed to do.

"The 18th constitutional amendment and the powers devolved to the provinces is the 'fault line' of the country's federation," he said, adding that any attempt to rollback the already devolved powers including the settled financial arrangements would have serious consequences for the federation.

Senator Mushahidullah Khan, a senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said the parliament had unanimously passed the 18th amendment, adding that the resource distribution among the provinces in the NFC award under Article 160 (3A) was a settled issue.

He also agreed with Rabbani that not taking the parliament into confidence on the IMF condition, and "false assurances" in the House by the government was "contempt of the parliament". However, he added that it was not discussed within his party to take up contempt of parliament issue at any relevant forum.

"A constitutional amendment requires two-third majority, which the government lacks. The government has already faced a 'defeat' in the Senate last Monday, when a bill seeking to amend Article 160 (3A) was rejected with majority of vote," he said, adding that the PML-N together with other opposition political parties would defeat any attempt which posed a threat to the country's security and integrity.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020