Civil society terms proposed act ‘unrepresentative’

Claim the system of Punjab is being imposed on the capital by PML-N.

ISLAMABAD: Dissatisfied by the proposed Local Government Act, ICT 2013, civil society activists demanded that the text of the act be made public so an informed debate could take place on its pros and cons. The proposed act will enable the conducting of Local Government (LG) elections in the capital. Following the Supreme Court’s directions, the government is going to conduct LG polls across the country, including the federal capital. The Ministry of Interior has sent the proposed act to the cabinet division. However, a section of Islamabad’s public has rejected the proposed act, claiming that it does not fairly represent the cross-section of society.

“The bureaucracy wants a crippled system of local governance in the capital which is not acceptable to the two million residents of the city,” said Executive Director Centre for Civic Education Pakistan (CCEP) Zafarullah Khan. He said that Islamabad’s residents, the main stakeholders in the local government, were not consulted while making this law. Khan said that the people of Islamabad want a LG system which ensures their complete participation.  He demanded that the government make the law public so city residents can debate its drawbacks.

Khan said the urban areas of Islamabad would have representation in a local government system for the first time ever.

National Coordinator PATTAN Development Organisation Sarwar Bari, whose organisation has previously protested against the act, also criticised the proposal and said the government is trying to impose the act being implemented in Punjab, which is not acceptable. “Without taking the public onboard, how can the government enact this law,” he asked.

Bari said the government must ensure a minimum of 21 members at union council level, with 33 per cent seats reserved for women, 20 per cent for peasants and workers and ten per cent for minorities.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Member National Assembly from capital’s NA-48 seat, Asad Umar, criticised the act, saying that the government is trying to impose the system of Punjab in Islamabad. He said that his party will oppose the act in parliament and will force the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to enact a law which is truly representative of the public.

Former Islamabad High Court Bar Association president Nayab Hassan Gardezi also said that civil society had not been taken onboard. “How can the government have an LG system in the capital without knowing the views of the local public,” he asked. He urged the opposition parties to start a debate on the issue before the government submits the act in parliament.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2013.