Devolution dream fades without delivery
In the scenic but underdeveloped hills of Upper Dir, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the curtains have finally fallen on a four-year-long local government system that promised grassroots empowerment but delivered little more than frustration and unfulfilled dreams.
As the term officially ended, residents looked back with regret at a period marked by political tug-of-war, withheld development funds, and elected officials who enjoyed official perks while basic civic amenities stayed out of reach.
The local government elections held in phases in 2022 had generated considerable enthusiasm. The Election Commission spent billions to establish the structure, aiming to bring governance closer to the people. In Upper Dir, the results reflected a fragmented mandate. Tehsil Wari and Larjam Darora went to PTI-backed candidates Ayanullah Khan and Abdul Latif Khan. Sheringal elected PPP's Shah Wali Khan as its first-ever Tehsil Chairman. Dir City and Barawal saw Jamaat-e-Islami's Rafiullah Khan and Jahan Alam Khan victorious, while Kalkot's seat ultimately went to JI's Malik Ziaur Rehman following a tribunal decision.
Yet, soon after the polls, the honeymoon period ended. According to local representatives, the provincial government moved swiftly to amend the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013. The changes allegedly curtailed the powers of elected local bodies and blocked the release of developmental funds. What began as a bold experiment in devolution quickly turned into a prolonged standoff between the provincial authorities and the newly elected representatives at the tehsil, village, and neighbourhood levels.
Elected officials from across party lines launched protest movements, demonstrating both inside the provincial assembly and outside Adiala Jail. They demanded restoration of their legal authority and immediate release of funds. Courts were approached, and some amendments were challenged, but the core issues, financial resources and administrative autonomy, remained unresolved throughout the four years.
The human cost of this impasse became evident on the ground. In Tehsil Sheringal, PPP's Malik Shah Wali Khan, serving as chairman of a newly upgraded tehsil, painted a grim picture. "This was the first time Sheringal received tehsil status, but unfortunately, not a single rupee of development funds was released in four years," he said. With no independent revenue sources, the tehsil municipal administration struggled to function. Poor employees went without salaries for up to 10 months.
Similar stories echoed across other tehsils. PTI's Ayanullah Khan, Tehsil Chairman of Wari, openly acknowledged the failure. "As a PTI worker, I admit that Tehsil Municipal Administration Wari did not receive even one rupee in development funds from the provincial government," he said. He noted that this was not an isolated issue; all 131 tehsils across the province suffered similarly.
A female councillor from Village Council Darora shared the sense of betrayal felt especially by women representatives. Elected on reserved seats with high hopes of advocating for women's rights and local issues, many found themselves powerless. "We made promises to the women of our areas, but when no development funds arrived, facing them became difficult," she said. She questioned the logic of holding elections if the government feared political repercussions from genuine devolution. "If they were so afraid, they should not have conducted the polls at all. Having done so, they had no right to treat elected women councillors this way," she added, urging female MPAs in the provincial assembly to raise their voices for the thousands of elected women representatives across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Financial records paint a stark contrast between perks enjoyed by representatives and the lack of public benefit. Over four years, Upper Dir's local bodies spent approximately Rs14.25 crore on honoraria and office rents alone. This included Rs5.856 crore paid to 122 Village Council Chairmen at Rs10,000 monthly each, Rs6.096 crore on rents for 177 village and neighbourhood council offices, and Rs2.304 crore to six Tehsil Chairmen at Rs80,000 per month. Additional expenses on fuel, stationery, phones, and food further added to the bill, all while streets remained without lights, drinking water schemes stayed incomplete, and basic waiting areas for men and women were missing in many localities.
As the four-year chapter closes, the people of Upper Dir find themselves back at square one. Public hopes, which had soared with the promise of empowered local governance, died long ago.
Many elected representatives now view future participation in the system as pointless unless genuine authority and resources are devolved.