All Pakistan needs is self-government at the local level.
TORONTO: This is with reference to Shamshad Ahmad’s article “Changing the system, not faces” (May 11). After reading the ideas stated in his article, I am convinced that it is due to the mindset of our top bureaucrats from the civil service that Pakistan is in such a precarious situation today. I am afraid to say that Mr Ahmad is one of those civil servants.
According to him, we should have smaller provinces without chief ministers and provincial assemblies. I wonder whether he wants political agents as heads of provinces or governors appointed by the president to rule them. All Pakistan needs is self-government at the local level with local administration and local police that are independent of provincial authorities. Secondly, the police need to be reformed so that hiring is done only at the lower level. Pakistan has big problems but they can be remedied through these steps. There is no need to go into the elaborate measures that Mr Ahmad has outlined.
Walayat Malik
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2013.
