Local bodies — forever and ever coming soon

It is the fundamental absurdity of Pakistan's governance system that the most basic tier of government, the one closest to citizens, is treated like an optional widget that can be turned off whenever it suits higher political interests. Local government is not some exotic policy idea. It is governance, it is development, it is the lived experience of citizens from Quetta to Gilgit, from Sukkur to Muzaffarabad, and yet we keep revisiting its absence with a curious mixture of urgency and habitual delay.

In a country where politics is permanently staged at the level of national security, diplomatic chess, foreign engagement and high-stakes power games, talking about streetlights, drains, waste collection and local councils can sound almost comical, as if governance is too small a matter for serious people. Until, of course, a daylong fire engulfs several people in a metropolitan, the garbage piles up, the drains overflow and the "minor" issues begin to define everyday life far more than the grand narratives do.

Pakistan's Constitution, through Article 140-A, mandates elected local governments with administrative and financial responsibility. On paper, it is a clean promise. In practice, it has become a recurring tragedy of governance deferred.

Across provinces, the story is familiar. K-P and Sindh held local government elections more recently, around 2021 and 2022, while Balochistan stretched them into 2023. Yet elections alone have not produced meaningful authority or stable service delivery because successive legal amendments and executive arrangements have steadily hollowed out these bodies. In Punjab, where the last meaningful elections were held around 2016, citizens have witnessed appointed administrators managing civic functions, while elected local representation remains missing.

This pattern is not limited to provinces. In G-B and AJK, regions already facing development constraints and political sensitivities, local governance remains fragile, often subordinated to central calculations. The result is predictable, when the local tier is weak, everything becomes discretionary, and discretionary governance is simply another name for uncertainty.

The cost is visible in everyday life. In Karachi, water sputters, roads decay, waste piles up and jurisdictional disputes produce statements more than solutions. In Quetta, civic breakdown is explained as a resource problem, ignoring the absence of accountability where authority is distant or hollow. In many smaller cities, citizens negotiate basic services through personal connections rather than reliable municipal systems. In Muzaffarabad and Gilgit, small businesses face arbitrary licensing decisions with little transparency because municipal frameworks remain politically overshadowed.

Then there are moments of tragicomic symbolism. The 'Maryam ka Suthra Punjab' campaign, with garbage trucks tagged with Maryam Nawaz roaming the streets, became more than a gimmick. It showcased a chief minister acting like a municipal commissioner because the actual architecture for everyday service delivery has been suspended for years. When chief executives step into tasks meant for elected councils, it signals a failure not of capacity but of governance design.

Across Pakistan, the absence of functioning local bodies is not due to confusion over constitutional requirements. It is a governance choice. When elections are postponed, fiscal authority remains with higher tiers, and executive discretion replaces participatory decision making, the outcome is a vacuum that breeds patronage, parallel authorities and public alienation.

If we truly believe in development with dignity, we must restore predictability. Local governments need elections on schedule, clear revenue authority and real control over core civic functions. A union council in Sukkur should be able to fix drains without a hundred letters to Karachi. A village council in Gilgit should be able to manage water without interference from distant offices. People do not want charity from political celebrities. They want predictable services, transparent decisions and accountability to themselves. Good governance begins at the ground level. Until we restore that level with integrity, the rest is governance theatre.