ISLAMABAD – Cushioning sever jerks and jolts and crossing many hurdles, the Constitutional Reforms Committee of the Parliament finally succeeded in signing the draft of 18th Amendment to revive the real spirit of 1973 Constitution by removing all the distortions introduced in it by the dictatorial regimes in the past.
The faces of all the members of the Committee were beaming and their heads were high with proud on this great achievement of the political forces at the historic signing ceremony of the proposed constitutional amendment package held here at the Parliament House on Wednesday night.
The members came turn by turn to sign the historic document with Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf first to sign the document while the Chairman of the committee Senator Mian Raza Rabbani the last one to ink the document, which could surely be termed as the rewriting of the Constitution or its rebirth.
Some of the members of the Committee informed TheNation that as Moulana Fazlur Rehman and Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi could not sign the document for their personal reasons and they would likely sign the document on Thursday and then it would be presented to the Speaker National Assembly and later on Friday it might be tabled before both houses of the Parliament.
The only hitch of renaming of NWFP was resolved in the afternoon when both Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz members agreed on the name of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhawa as the new name for the province. However, PML-Q and PPP-S leaders had written dissenting notes giving reasoning against the proposed name.
Briefly talking to media after the signing ceremony, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani after thanking Allah Almighty for guiding them and helping them in accomplishing a gigantic task of removing distortions from the Constitution.
He was all praise for the political parties, particularly the members of the Committee, who had put their best in the preparation of this vital document.
He said that the signing of the document had proved that the political forces in the country were in complete understanding of the circumstances facing the country and they were capable enough to tackle difficult things through dialogue and lead the country to progress and prosperity.
He also thanked the poor people of country for waiting patiently for such a long period for the accomplishment of this gigantic task of removing anomalies from the Constitution and added that the political forces in the country had not disappointed them.
He also thanked the members of the Committee, who had put in their best and cooperated with him even in difficult moments where parties were standing poles apart but finally through dialogue they would able to resolve issues.
He also thanked the heads of political parties and senior leadership who all had rose above their personal and partyÂ’s interests and extended support to the Committee in accomplishing difficult task for the greater national cause.
He also praised media for positive and responsible reporting of the issue and said that on certain points media could do spoil the whole exercise but it acted responsibly and had not played up controversies.
Earlier, in the afternoon the Committee met for 77th time while the ANP and PML-N members had also separate meeting on renaming of the NWFP wherein both the parties agreed on the name of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhawa and when these members entered the CommitteeÂ’s room along with the chairman of the Committee Mian Raza Rabbani they were welcomed by thumping of the desks.
However, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and PML-Q members Senator S M Zafar and Leader of the Opposition in Senate Wasim Sajjad had written dissenting notes giving reasons for their dissent.
However, these members said that they would support the 18th Amendment when tabled before the Parliament and they had just recorded their concerns over the new name proposed by ANP and PML-N for NWFP.
It was also decided in the meeting that the composition of the judicial commission would remain seven but the appointment of the retired judge in the body would be the sole desecration of the Chief Justice of Pakistan who would be the head of the commission.