LAHORE - Commenting on governments decision to bring about changes in the local government system, veteran politician and President PPP (Shaheed Bhutto), Punjab, Dr Mubashir Hasan has said that the Prime Ministers bid to run the state of Pakistan on the pattern of old British system of governance is bound to fail. Talking to The Nation on Thursday, he said it was not the right time to tinker with the system once again, as, he added, many experiments to run the country in an efficient manner had been done in the past, but neither of them worked. Dr Mubashir believed that the only way to bring stability, progress and prosperity to Pakistan was to let the provinces decide what powers they wanted to leave with Islamabad. Police should be put under local elected councillors and the system of jury should replace the system of magistracy, he further suggested. The people should be their own magistrates, he observed and added that this objective should be achieved within a period of 2-3 years. He said that civil officers in the British days and early years of Pakistan, used to run the country with the help of rural landlords and urban notables, but that period is gone. The civil officers will not be able to run the country on those lines, he affirmed. The PPP leader also opposed the idea of taking away powers from police and putting it under civil officers. Giving an overview of some past experiments made by successive rulers in a bid to ensure good governance, the former federal minister said that dictators, General Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and an elected Prime Minister Z A Bhutto thought that if senior civil officers who had an independent mind were dismissed, the system will work. Ayub dismissed 13 senior civil officers. His device did not work. Yahya Khan on the same principle, had to dismiss 303 officers. Z A Bhutto did the same by dismissing 13,00 officers for he thought that corrupt and politically unsuitable officers should be dismissed. Zial-ul-Haq tried Martial Law, his own nominated Majlas-e-Shoora, his Islamic system, his chosen prime minister, but he met failure on this count. Similarly, he continued, General Musharraf thought that the system of Deputy Commissioner was at the roots of Pakistans problems, and brought a system of nazims and naib nazims to improve governance at local level. He gave them a lot of money, made them politically pliable besides making them in charge of roads, water supplies, schools and dispensaries, but gave them no real power of governance. The power of governance, he said, stood transferred to police through Police Order 2002. Talking about efficiency of police, Dr Mubashir said that polices capability to deliver had been impaired over the years due to a host of reasons. The police, which are supposed to protect life, property and dignity of people, need most protection today. Everywhere the police are under attack, he told this scribe. The military, he added, which defended the borders was also under attack by forces from within and outside.