The author failed to mention was that the same was employed to bypass the provincial governments.
LAHORE: This is with reference to Feisal H Naqvi’s article “Making our democracy ‘antifragile’”. The writer has rightly pointed out that the system of local government introduced by former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf was good for democracy but what he failed to mention was that the same was employed to bypass the provincial governments.
The reason why dictators like Musharraf, Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq have toyed with the idea of local government system is because it allowed them to have not only a semblance of democracy and political legitimacy, but also provided them with an opportunity to corner politicians. Therefore, whenever a political government comes to power, vendetta overtakes reason and the local government system is axed. For the local governments to work effectively, the political parties have to play a bigger role by being actively involved in the decentralisation of power, since the ultimate aim of all parties is to maintain the welfare of the people.
Omer Mahmood Butt
Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2012.
