ISLAMABAD: Representatives of nationalist parties of the three smaller provinces said on Tuesday that the parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms should determine the extent of provincial autonomy before finalising the draft of its package.

The 62nd meeting of the committee, presided over by its chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, exclusively dealt with the issue of provincial autonomy.

According to sources, Haji Mohammad Adeel of ANP, Abdur Rahim Mandokhel of PMAP, Dr Abdul Malik of NP, Shahid Hassan Bugti of JWP, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao of PPP-S, Prof Khurshid Ahmad of JI and Dr Farooq Sattar and Haider Abbas Rizvi of MQM supported maximum provincial autonomy and transfer to the provinces of control of their resources.

They warned that the committee could not reach a consensus on the proposed constitutional package if the issue of provincial autonomy was not resolved.

JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said his party would write a dissenting note if the package did not include repeal of the 17th Amendment.

He alleged that the committee was facing “external pressure”.

Talking to reporters after attending the committee’s meeting, he said: “If you stress on us to take decisions of your choice today, we can also ask you to take decisions of our choice in the future.”

While discussing part one of the federal list, the committee decided to hand over the capital gains tax and estate tax on property to the provinces. However, it could not reach a consensus on transferring the sales tax and value-added tax to the provinces as the demand made by smaller parties was opposed by the major ones.

The issue of making the federally and provincially administered tribal areas part of the provinces and extending the Political Parties Act to them was also discussed, the sources said.

They said that some parties wanted the steps to be taken but the army, which was fighting terrorists in the tribal region, wanted a status quo to be maintained and, as such, the issue was not being touched.

This would mean that the government’s commitment to abolish the FCR would not be met and the Political Parties Act would not be extended to the tribal belt, at least for the time being, they said.