PM Imran says ‘no objection to 18th Amendment but certain points need to be reviewed’

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that the government had “no objection” to the 18th Amendment but that it was necessary to review some of its points that were “included in a hurry”. While addressing the media at the Governor’s House, Karachi, he said that the Amendment had given provincial chief ministers “powers equivalent to dictators”, but they did not devolve that power to local governments. “The system everywhere is based on three tiers but [in Pakistan] the system is two-tiered.”

The premier is in Karachi for a two-day visit to Sindh — his first since the coronavirus outbreak began.

“I have clarified that devolution of power happens in societies where there is good governance. [The PPP government] included some things in the 18th Amendment in a hurry that need to be reviewed,” he said. “One example is pollution — air and environment pollution affect all provinces. Medicines need to be standardised. They have done several things wrong.” The premier claimed that the local government system the PTI would bring in the next elections would be “the best in the world”, adding that it was the PTI that devolved power and empowered village councils in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, making it the first province to do so.“We have held direct elections at the Tehsil level. The purpose for doing this is because we realised that a lot of corruption was done when elections was conducted through nazim. This is the system worldwide.”