Parties fail to bring consensus on LG law

It appears that representatives of political parties, who are supposed to bring consensus on local government law, have gone ahead and agreed on the postponement of local body elections currently underway in Sindh.

There are parts of the province where the polls are still in process and dozens of political contestants are alleged to be elected unopposed.

The elections are scheduled to take place on June 24 across 14 districts of Sindh, while the remaining 16 districts of the province will poll a month alter on July 24.

The speaker of the Sindh Assembly had constituted a 23-member Select Committee comprising six parliamentary parties in February this year. These included Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Tahreek Labaik Pakistan (TLP).

The committee was constituted following the Supreme Court’s orders to empower local governments law as per article 140-A (1) of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court’s directives had come in aftermath of separate protests of Jamaat-e-Islami, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pak Sarzameen Party on the issue against Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 and amendments passed in 2021. Sindh government introduced some other amendments in the law in February 2022.

However the Opposition parties rejected the fresh amendments too, insisting that they were not according to the directives of the Supreme Court.

Finally a Select Committee headed by Sindh Local Governments Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah was formed. The Select Committee was tasked to propose amendments in the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 as per Supreme Court’s order.

However, the committee could not even meet once during its two initial months and 18 days. In its meeting held on May 25 the committee members decided to approach the court as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for postponement of ongoing process of the local government elections.

Speaking in this regard, Sindh Assembly’s Senior Special Secretary  Muhammad Khan Rind said that the committee has unanimously opined that elections will not serve the purpose without carrying out necessary changes in the local government law. Therefore, he added, the committee has decided to approach the court for postponement of the local government elections. Per Rind, the committee will continue its consultation about the law. “Next meeting of the committee is scheduled on Thursday, June 2,” he disclosed.

Commenting on the matter, senior journalist Abdul Jabbar Nasir said that he is not seeing a possibility of fresh local government election before 2024, in case the ongoing election process is postponed. “A lot of time will be required for delimitation of constituencies and preparations of fresh polls even if political parties bring a consensus on local governments law within a month,” he opined, hinting at the possibility of political parties themselves trying to flee from the election process.

According to official minutes of the May 25th meeting of the Select Committee, all the major parties were stuck to their own point of view about changes in the law. Speaking at the meeting the PPP legislator, Muhammad Qasim Soomro said that both, the MQM and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have proposed different types of governments in their proposed drafts while the government has suggested another ties. He said that MQM has suggested a system which more or less pertains to taluka nazims, administrative areas, union nazims and city governments. “However the PTI’s draft pertains to different idea, a system of village councils and town committees,” he added.

Speaking at the meeting the PTI representative Firdous Shamim Naqvi insisted that the committee should first agree on basic structure of the local governments. “How will the committee empower the simplest tier, the Ward, then Union Council, Taluka and Town. Do the committee intend to retain Town or District?” he probed in his speech.

However, according to MQM’s Khuwaja Izharul Hassan, the issue of basic structure of local governments is not important. Per official minutes of the meeting, he said that devolution of power in light of the judgment is more important. “Issues pertaining to administrative, political and financial powers of the local governments should be resolved in light of the court’s order,” he added.

Whereas Sindh Chief Minister’s Advisor on Law and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Wahab, said that there is a direction to bring the original SLGA, 2013 in line with Article 140 (a) of the Constitution. The government had brought amendments in it in conformity of the said Article. Per the meeting’s minutes, he said that SLGA, 2013 should be considered as foundation document to move forward. “Introduction of any brand new system at this stage will cause teething issues and hiccups,” he opined.

On the other hand, the minutes of the same meeting disclosed that Hasnain Mirza of the GDA was of the opinion that the SLGA, 2013 had some basic flaws. “This law was amended thirteen times in the past. It will be the 14th attempt to amend the law. The scope of work is so wide that the government should seek more time from the court so that the committee comes up with a comprehensive piece of legislation,” he proposed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2022.