Daily Times

Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry had admitted that it was a mistake on the part of the PTI government not to hold new elections for local bodies during the first year of coming into power. He further confessed that the chief ministers have been resisting the restoration of the local governments. He deserves a pat on his back for having the heft to speak the truth. The reality is that the provincial governments, MNAs, MPAs and the district administrations manned by the officers of the Pakistan Administrative Service were in league to resist the establishment of local bodies as the constitution for fear of becoming irrelevant to the local politics and losing their clout in promoting the vested interests. It is pertinent to mention that the SC has ordered the Punjab government to restore the local government system by October 20 and also summoned the incumbent and former chief secretaries on the next date to answer why they failed to implement the court decision delivered in March 2021 regarding their restoration.

Our constitution envisages a three-tier system i.e local governments, provincial governments and the federal government. But it is a regrettable reality that the country has mostly been run on two tiers. Even more painful is the fact that the elected governments and interspersed military regimes paid no attention to this constitutional obligation. Ironically, it was the latter that established local governments during their power stints.

The first local government election was held in 1959 under the dictatorship of Ayub khan. The second local government election was held in 1979 by General Zia ul Haq. The third local government election was held by General Musharraf in 2000. The only local body election held by an elected government was in December 2015 not because the government had decided on its own to go for the fulfilment of the constitutional obligation but it was ordered by the apex court. However, the local governments established as a result of the foregoing elections were not structured in conformity with the spirit of the constitution. Article 140-A of the constitution says, “Each province shall, by law establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments.”

PM Khan should understand that despite his honesty of purpose, he would not be able to implement his agenda of real change under the present system of governance.

It is abundantly clear that under this article, the local administration (including policing) is supposed to be under the elected bodies besides the responsibility of carrying out development projects and having powers to generate financial resources of their own. Bringing the police under the control of the local government can greatly help in eliminating the ‘Thana Culture’ and giving back their honour to the people. But that was never done.

For quite some time, echoes for the creation of more provinces have been resonating in the country with fluctuating intensity. We have heard demands for the creation of a new province of South Punjab, restoration of the state of Bahawalpur, carving out of Hazara province from the present KPK and making Karachi a separate governing unit. The arguments in favour of the creation of more provinces usually have been poor governance, lack of development and distance factor from the provincial capitals.

My considered opinion shared by a myriad of intellectual and political analysts is that the politics of more provinces is nothing but a political gimmickry. Carving out new provinces from the existing provinces would require approval from the two-third majority of the respective legislatures as well as a similar nod from the parliament which looks a distant possibility given the permeating ambience of political confrontation. Even if by any chance the concerned parties agree to the propositions as a result of giving and taking, the creation of new provinces under the present system of governance and the existing mode of electing the representatives based on the single constituency, it is not going to resolve the real issues, which are advanced as arguments for the Balkanisation of the existing provinces. It would lead only to the creation of more centres of power to the advantage of the vested interests with the elitist class and feudal lords belonging to the concerned areas becoming the new rulers.

People do not need more provinces on an administrative or ethnolinguistic basis. They want and need their problems to be resolved at the local level, which can be done only through strengthening the local government as per the constitution. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the political parties to shun their traditional politics of befooling the people and show the honesty of purpose in resolving their problems through improved governance in consonance with the constitution. As far as providing justice to the people at their doorstep or near their homes, it can be done through setting up High Court benches at every district headquarters and separating the judiciary from the administration in line with Article 175(3).

It is also imperative to break the hold of the elitist classes and feudal lords on political power by changing the present system of electing our MNAs and MPAs. The best way to break the hold of the feudal lords and the elitist classes on the political power in the country is to adopt the system of proportional representation for electing our parliamentarians. Under this system, people vote for the parties rather than the individual candidates in a single constituency and the parties get representation in the parliament based on the percentage of votes that they poll. The advantage of this system is that it reflects the real support for the political parties among the masses and also ensures the presence of smaller and regional parties in the parliament making the legislature a truly representative body.

The party leaders are spared of the blackmail of the electables and they can nominate competent and educated people from different walks of national life to represent the party in the parliament. The system also eliminates the possibility of rigging, horse-trading and floor-crossing for personal gains as well as political engineering. To make this system workable, voting must be made compulsory so that every registered voter can exercise his right of franchise. If the political parties are really sincere in providing good governance to the people, they must cooperate in introducing the required reforms in the existing system.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also needs to understand that despite his honesty of purpose, he would not be able to implement his agenda of real change under the present system of governance. He might complete his tenure by pandering to the machinations of his coalition partners and keeping them in good stead to hold on to the power but he will not be able to provide good governance despite his best efforts unless a constitutional arrangement for devolution of power is honestly implemented. He would need the support of all the political parties to change the system whether he likes it or not. The apex court, as custodian of the constitution, must also ensure that the next local body elections are held in conformity with Article 140-A of the constitution.

The writer is a retired diplomat, and a visiting professor at Riphah International University, Islamabad.