Informed voters: Learn more about LG candidates: speakers at IBA

Students discover the ins and outs of the upcoming polls

KARACHI: When social activist Jibran Nasir asked the students of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) how many of them personally knew or have met candidates contesting in the local government (LG) elections in their constituencies, only four hands were raised.

He was speaking on Wednesday at a panel discussion on LG elections arranged by IBA’s social sciences club, in light of the local upcoming elections. He insisted the young crowd go and grill the contestants contesting elections in their wards and union committees. “Go and talk to them, hear their manifestos, it’s necessary for you [to know this],” he said. He was of the opinion that since the Constitution of Pakistan was not part of their curriculum, students do not know about their rights.

Ayub Khan, he explained, brought in the LG system for the first time and then the former president Pervez Musharraf gave more power to local governments.



Former Karachi mayor Fahim Zaman said that he has written articles on how in 2001 the devolution of power was in vested interests. A dictator only devolved power to a lower level because he wanted to lessen the powers of the provincial governments, he claimed. “At that time I said that when a democratic government came into power it would undo all that,” he said, adding that a bad democratic government was better than a dictatorship. Zaman said that within six months of the local government elections, the local government council could enhance its powers by exerting pressure on the government.

Discussing political dynasties in Pakistan, Nasir said that when TV channels say that the big names have fallen during general elections, it means that maybe a son or nephew or aunt or uncle of a leader of a political party has lost.

“In LG elections such dynastic political parties don’t get credible candidates to contest elections, which is why banners with Mumtaz Qadri’s pictures come up in front of us,” he said, adding that the leaders then kept denying those banners. He insisted that political parties’ central leaderships should not only disassociate themselves with such banners but also with those candidates who put up the banners under their party’s name.

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf’s Arsalan Ghumman said that the current local government act was just a photocopy of 1973 people’s local government act. “Powers over building control authorities and the municipal corporations will not rest with the mayor,” said Nasir, adding that without proper devolution of power there was a big question mark on the local government system.

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Syed Ali Raza Abidi said that the two ruling parties of the country were never interested in contesting the local government elections. He said that, after 2009, when the last local government tenure ended, the manpower as well as machinery in the municipalities reduced. He said that if the whole system, including police, Karachi Municipal Corporation and Sindh Building Control Authority, falls under the local government, one could hold their elected representative responsible.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd,  2015.