Sartaj Aziz discourages revisiting 18th Amendment

• Sartaj Aziz calls for enhancing capacity of provincial governments.
• Duplication of efforts should be avoided, seasoned politician notes.
• The 18th Amendment was passed in 2010 during PPP's tenure.

ISLAMABAD: Seasoned politician Sartaj Aziz has discouraged revisiting the 18 Amendment and stressed enhancing the capacity of the provincial governments.

The ex-foreign minister made the recommendation in a paper presented during a virtual seminar on Comparing Evolution of Federalism in Pakistan and Australia — organised by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT).

PILDAT President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob presented key takeaways from the background paper written by Aziz, who could not attend Thursday's session.

The PML-N leader said the capacity of the provincial governments needed to be enhanced to deal with the devolved subjects of education and health.

He noted that the duplication of efforts should be avoided between federal and provincial governments in areas such as health, agriculture, and population planning. 

The role of the federal government needs to be increased in social protection, poverty reduction, higher education, and health insurance by better utilisation of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), Aziz said.

Passed during PPP's government in 2010, the 18th Amendment devolved powers to the provinces in key areas of public services — health, women's development, social welfare, and local government.