‘NFC issue to be resolved soon’
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—Leader of the house in Senate Wasim Sajjad on Friday said that the issue of National Finance Commission (NFC) award is a constitutional matter and it should be resolved as soon as possible. Winding up debate on NFC award in the Senate, he said he would convey the concern of the house to the prime minister that the issue needs to be resolved soon.
Wasim said it is a constitutional requirement that the NFC award should be reviewed every five years. The president, he added, wants all the provinces to have a greater share in the award and it is not that he is unwilling to announce it.
“The president does not want to issue a decree on it. This is not a mere dictate of the president,” he added. He said the prime minister has also said that he wants to resolve the issue after consultations with the provinces.
Wasim Sajjad said the award should not be given on the basis of population alone and other circumstances in provinces like the level of development and backwardness should also be taken into consideration. He said the parliamentary committee on Balochistan has worked tirelessly to redress the province’s genuine grievances.
Mushahid Hussain Sayed also said that population alone should not be made a criteria for the award and stressed the need to resolve the issue quickly. He said when the Balochistan issue surfaced it almost became a flashpoint but the government instead of using the force adopted the path of dialogue.
“We know that the strength of provinces is the strength of federation. We should work together. The spirit is to improve things,” he added. He said to strengthen democracy, both the opposition and the government should work together.
“Therefore they should respect our mandate and we will respect theirs.” About the parliamentary committee on Balochistan, Mushahid Hussain complimented the efforts of all the political parties involved in it.
Professor Khursheed has worked tirelessly on its report and similarly the contribution of Ishaq Dar is very significant, he said. He also paid tributes to MMA, ARD and other opposition parties for their work in preparing the report of the committee.
He hoped that through these concerted efforts the problems of Balochistan will soon be resolved. Mushahid said when it comes to the country, all the political parties rise above their political differences and referred to the nuclear programme and the issue of Kashmir.