‘Strengthening LB institutions essential to resolve issues’

QUETTA:

The founder of the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) Senator Syed Saeed Ahmed Hashmi has said that an empowered local government system can resolve people’s issues.

Speaking to journalists he said there was a dire need to bring about a basic change in thinking.

Hashmi said that in the past there was a practice to assign a few sardars, nawabs and elders the task of taking care of the masses and this practice continued for over 70 years, but now the ground realities and situation had changed and the tribal system, which used to be strong in the past, had become weakened and it had badly failed to resolve burning issues faced by the masses.

He said now the government should find out solution of the issues of the masses by making local bodies’ institutions stronger through devolution of financial and administrative powers at grassroots level.

“This is now the time to give maximum financial and administrative powers to representatives of local bodies’ institutions and strengthen this system as has been done in all developed countries of the world,” he said.

The BAP leader said that issues being faced by the masses whose majority consists of poor or the lower middle class were different from the issues of the rich people and if local bodies’ institutions were given financial and administrative powers most of the issues of the masses would be solved by elected representatives of local governments as people could easily approach them to get their issues resolved.

Hashmi, who represented Balochistan in the Senate thrice and also served as the provincial minister for law and parliamentary affairs, said the government could restore law and order in Balochistan by developing Levies Force on modern lines as members of Levies Force could easily identify internal enemies in a better way.

“We can get better results and restore peace and tranquility in the province by linking Levies Force with local bodies’ institutions,” he said.

The BAP leader said that the country’s progress and development was linked with Balochistan’s progress and prosperity and for achieving good results and this objective was necessary to restore the trust of the disgruntled youth and the downtrodden people instead of using the state power and machinery, and the masses should be involved in the power sharing so that they felt the ownership of their affairs and land they were living on.

“The issues could not be resolved through the use of force as is evident that use of force has not brought about any positive result in several countries of the world,” Senator Hashmi concluded.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2022.