ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday stated in clear terms that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government doesn’t want to completely roll back the 18th Amendment.
Speaking in the Senate, he said the government doesn’t aim to do away with the constitutional amendment but its “weak points should be reviewed and addressed.”
“We don’t have a two-thirds majority to bring any change, why are you afraid,” the foreign minister said, pointing to opposition senators.
He took the opposition to task over criticism of the government for a delay in convening a session of the house, saying it was because of lack of consensus among the opposition that the session got delayed.
Qureshi said even PPP’s Saleem Mandviwalla, the deputy chairperson of the senate, doesn’t support the move to call a session of the house, asking the party to first develop consensus in its own ranks.
Speaking about the coronavirus situation, he hoped the country would succeed in its efforts to defeat the pandemic.
“There is no doubt that uncertainty prevails because of the coronavirus. Even stable economies [the world over] are reeling from the pandemic,” the foreign minister pointed out, warning that a recession will follow the global health crisis.
He predicted the global economy is going to shrink by 3 per cent.