ISLAMABAD (April 20 2010): President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday signed 'The Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Bill, 2010' and now it would make history by becoming part of the Constitution. Both houses of the Parliament (National Assembly and Senate) passed the 18th Amendment Bill, 2010 surpassing two-thirds majority. Now 102 clauses of the amendment will become part of 1973 Constitution.

"The Constitutional reforms Bill that I have signed into law is the first major Constitutional reform package in the last more than thirty years to restore 1973 constitution to its original form. It is my belief that the doors of dictatorship have been closed for ever. The past amendments were forced upon the nation through executive orders by un-elected rulers only to legitimise their rule.

Those amendments were not introduced for the benefit of the people or strengthening democracy. Let no one think of subverting the Constitution," the President said while addressing the signing ceremony of 18th Amendment Bill held at Presidential House.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fahemida Mirza, Senate Chairman Dr Farooq H Naek, Chief Ministers of all four provinces, Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms Chairman Raza Rabbani, Committee members, Ministers, MNAs and other key leaders attended the signing ceremony.

The President said that "gone are the days when state institutions upheld the subversion" of the Constitution. "A lesson of today is that our Parliament is capable of delivering, and we can achieve so much through reconciliation by setting aside our personal egos. Let us on this day pledge to pursue the path of reconciliation for the greatest good of the greatest number of people. Let us on this day also pledge that we will uphold the supremacy of the Constitution," the President said.

He said that "now we have achieved a milestone in Constitutional reformation and in giving rights to the provinces; now we must devote our full time and attention to the problems of the common people. These are problems of load shedding, unemployment, inflation and law and order." He said: "I call upon all political parties and leaders that just as they joined hands to reform the Constitution, they should now join hands in the same spirit to find solutions to the problems of ordinary citizens."

The President said that the credit for the first major constitutional overhaul goes to the continuation of democratic process and the policy of national reconciliation. It is a moment of great satisfaction-indeed of pride-that the Constitution has been made truly democratic and federal in character, and provincial rights and Parliamentary sovereignty have been restored, he said.

"I am very happy that the people of Pukhtoonkhwa have finally got their identity--an identity that eluded them for the past many decades--as their province is renamed as Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa," the President said. He said that the ceremony "here today and the gathering of the leaders and Parliamentarians of all political parties is a demonstration of the glory of democracy and power of reconciliation". He said it shows that democracy and reconciliation can work wonders.

"The first major Constitutional Reforms Package after more than thirty years also is backed by all provinces and political parties. Just as the nation made great progress after the adoption of the unanimous Constitution in 1973, we hope that it will make similar progress after the adoption of the Constitutional Amendments," he said.

The President congratulated all members of the Constitutional Reforms Committee and its Chairman Senator Raza Rabbani for accomplishing this task and all the political parties and their leaders for rising above party politics and agreeing to Constitutional reforms based on consensus amendments.

He said that there were some people who feared that the Parliament would fail. "But collectively we resolved our differences and made history by restoring the 1973 Constitution", he added. He said that with political ownership of the war against militancy and the beginning of retreat of militants and extremists, significant successes have been achieved in the war against militancy.

The President said that the 7th NFC Award, Political Reforms in Gilgit-Baltistan, Aghaz-e-Huqooq-i-Balochistan and reconstitution of the Council of Common Interests are major achievements of the government. On this occasion, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the signing of 18th amendment bill reflects the spirit of political parties for strengthening the democratic institution and supremacy of the Parliament and rule of law. He said that this step would lead to parliamentary democracy and empower the provinces.

He congratulated the leadership of all political parties, particularly mentioning the hard work of the Committee and Senator Raza Rabbani who lived up to his reputation of a democrat and constitutionalist. "Le us make a pledge to adopt democratic principles in true letter and spirit. Let us join hands to make efforts to resolve problems of energy shortage, load shedding, poverty and to provide basic facilities to the people of Pakistan," the Prime Minister said.

Senator Raza Rabbani paid tributes to the political sagacity of the President and to the leaders of political parties whose guidance made all this possible. He said the 18th amendment bill is unique in three ways. First, it is for the first time that a duly elected president is giving his powers willingly to the prime minister and the parliament.

"It is unique amendment doing away with the name of Zia-ul-Haq; it also annulled the vestiges of Musharraf by repealing the 17th amendment bill and LFO," he said. He said that the question of provincial autonomy 'to some extent' has been resolved. In short, the Bill strengthens the Parliament and democratic institutions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010