Inclusive approach

As against PM’s Corona Tiger force that does carry a political tag, relief force suggested by Kamal is all-inclusive

Mustafa Kamal’s suggestion makes a lot of sense. The former mayor of Karachi calls for restoring local bodies, through a presidential ordinance, to be utilised as a relief force to cater to people across the country during coronavirus lockdown. Currently, a local government system is in place in Sindh only, while it stands dysfunctional in rest of the three provinces. The tenure of local bodies in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan expired on August 28, 2019 and January 28, 2020 respectively while the local bodies in Punjab stood abolished on May 5, 2019 when a new law was introduced by the provincial government to hold the elections afresh. However, none of the three provinces has managed to hold elections and form local bodies which comprise union councils, towns (tehsil or talluka in case of rural areas) and districts — with the first mentioned being the smallest tier that reaches the grass roots.

Kamal, the ex-mayor, says that there are a hundred and fifty thousand local bodies’ representatives in the country. The strength is good enough to cater to the total number of households in the country which, according to the 2017 census, is 32,205,111. The fact that not all of these households are in need of government help eases the equation further. Kamal also says that he is ready to put his party’s workers at the disposal of the mayors of Karachi and Hyderabad to be utilised for provision of ration and other essentials among the people, asking all other political parties in Sindh, as well as in other provinces, to follow suit. As against the PM’s Corona Tiger force that does carry a political tag, the relief force suggested by Kamal is all-inclusive. A good strategy to deal with a national challenge, it would serve to satisfy the sense of participation of all those who are willing to make a contribution towards the noble cause, besides creating a sense of ownership. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2020.

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