Called to account

Local government is often seen as the nursery for those who want to make a life in politics & aspire to higher things.

In one respect, at least, the current government is beginning to look uncomfortably similar to its PPP predecessor, principally in the matter of a willingness to disobey the law of the land and ignore judgments and rulings of the Supreme Court (SC). Local government elections are long delayed, by up to 15 years in some of the cantonment areas. Now the SC has handed down contempt of court charges against the Defence Secretary, Lt General (retd) Asif Yasin Malik, for not holding local government elections as per previous rulings of the SC. The chief justice said that there was no reason to spare the defence secretary (DS) — in which he is absolutely correct.



Earlier, the Court had given the DS the option of announcing a date for the elections in the cantonment boards. However, the secretary maintained that he was not authorised to do so .The DS now appears to be in dodging and weaving mode but the SC seems determined to pursue the matter. The lawyer for the DS told the Court that ‘executive authorities’ were responsible for the holding of elections in cantonment areas, and that as the DS was not a part of the federal government, then the prosecutor could not bring charges against him. This is disingenuous to say the very least. Local government is ‘grass roots’ political, often seen as the nursery for those who want to make a life in politics and aspire to higher things. There is no justification for the inordinate delay, a delay which can only be linked to vested interests not wishing to have their status quo upset by something as inconvenient as democratic process.

Having just made a much-trumpeted transition from one civilian government to another without a spell of military rule in between, it says nothing for the credibility of the PML-N government and its commitment to democracy for all, that it is unable to ensure local government elections. Whether the DS will ever have his day in court is yet to be seen and there is much legal argy-bargy still to be had. But we hope that as a result, the much-delayed local government elections are finally held in the cantonments and the country can move forward in the democratic process, cementing the gains of the past few years.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2013.

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