LG polls: Other provinces asked to emulate Balochistan

Bureaucratic hurdles, lack of political will main reasons behind election delays.

ISLAMABAD:

While other provinces dither over when to hold local government (LG) polls after the 18th Amendment, Balochistan took a leap forward by successfully conducting them.

Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment (DTCE) Chief Operating Officer Azhar Bashir Malik said this while speaking at a seminar titled, “Citizens’ engagement and accountability for an effective LG system and policy and implementation under 18th amendment”, organised by DTCE in collaboration with USAID under the “Citizens’ Voice Projects”.

Speakers at the interactive session also shed light on local government policy frameworks and its implementations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Punjab through devolution of administrative, financial and political responsibilities to the elected representatives.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Malik said that in the past 10 years, Pakistan has failed to conduct successful LG polls. He said that post 18th amendment, no institutions have been established to address core issues at the local level.

“The [national] census is another issue in this regard,” Malik said adding that dynamics of each province were different from the other. “K-P is enthusiastic and has been preparing for the past year-and-a-half, but without a success. FATA is a different ball game,” he said. He posited that Balochistan after the LG polls was in a better position than other provinces in terms of taking up and resolving issues at the local level.

While sharing concerns of people from 12 districts of K-P and Punjab regarding LG polls, he said that the citizens have demanded an increase in the number of women’s seats and revival of union councils. He said that they have also demanded to allocate reserved seats for disabled men and women. Moreover, they have demanded to curtail the powers of chief ministers who could suspend district nazims, Malik said.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA and DTCE Chairman Daniyal Aziz while favouring devolution of powers said that from 2001 onwards, budget allocations for local governments went up 90 per cent, but have recently started declining.

Aziz said bureaucratic hurdles and lack of political will remained one of the main reasons behind non-transition of power. He suggested that legislators should amend statutes to provide citizens the rights.  “Democracy is incomplete without local governments,” he said.

Justice (retd) Amjad Ali urged parliamentarians to play their role to hold the elections in line with Supreme Court orders. “Any amendment to the LG acts may be made as per the requirements once the elections are held and LGs are in place,” he added.

PML-N legislator Muhammad Talal Chaudhry said political parties and their leaders should focus on performance rather than criticising each other on non-issues.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Shehryar Khan Afridi suggested that biometric voting systems must be used in the LG polls. Afridi said PTI was in the process of developing an accountable electoral system and will conduct successful LG elections in K-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2014.