A three member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice Nasir Ul Mulk, while hearing a case on local bodies on October 4, 2014, took exception to the delay in holding them by the provinces despite SC orders in this regard, and issued notices to the Attorney General and Advocate Generals of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. It may be recalled that on a petition by a private citizen, the SC had ordered the federal and provincial governments to make sure that local bodies elections were held by September 2013. But it is painful to note that the Supreme Court Orders have not been implemented so far by the provincial governments on one pretext or the other. The Supreme Court in its order on March 19, 2014 again asked the federal and provincial governments to enact new laws regarding the delimitation of the constituencies by the Election Commission and the ECP was given 45 days to accomplish the task after the required legal changes by the federal and provincial governments. The provinces have not yet completed the legislative work in this regard and the ECP feels that it would require at least six months to complete the delimitation work. Indications are that the LB polls will remain an elusive dream at least till the end of 2014, though reportedly Khyber Pukhtunkhwa is contemplating to fulfil its obligation in November this year.
Most of the countries with parliamentary democracies have a three tier system of governance, with local governments being a pivot of the whole system. The Constitution of Pakistan also envisages a three layered system of governance in the country comprising federal, provincial and local government. But to the chagrin of the masses, while the federal and provincial governments have been functioning uninterrupted both under civilian and military rules, it was only the latter who installed systems of local governments during their rules, though not as envisaged in the Constitution but with the sole purpose of building support for their regimes at the grass-roots level and to undermine the political parties. The elected governments that interspersed the military regimes remained criminally oblivious to this constitutional requirement. The consequences of this wilful breach of the Constitution by the elected governments are that the state of Pakistan, has to a great extent, failed to provide the required services to its citizens and building a responsible relationship with them. That decidedly, has also been the major factor in promoting fissiparous tendencies in the country and undermining national integration.
The model of local government originally crafted by the National Bureau of Reconstruction during the Musharraf era was probably the most bold initiative that conformed to the system envisioned in the Constitution. It enhanced the powers of the elected officials of the local government and abolished the office of District Magistrate and Divisional commissioners. This step also finally fulfilled the constitutional requirement under article 175 (3) for separation of the judiciary from the executive at the district level. However, the PML (Q) government installed by Musharraf, defanged the system by changing some of its features and initiating a process of re-centralization of some of the development departments. Musharraf acquiesced to these changes dictated by political expediencies. However, the moment democracy was restored in the country as a result of the 2008 elections, all the provincial governments abandoned the system and revived the archaic and colonial system of district administration. None of the parties ruling the provinces, in spite of crying hoarse from every convenient rooftop to rub in their democratic credentials, ever bothered to hold Local Bodies elections.
We often hear demands for the creation of new provinces and administrative units to resolve the problems of the people and finding solutions to the political tension. I think this is not the real solution. The real solution lies in establishing Local Bodies, a missing link in the system of governance, in conformity with Article 140A (1&2) of the Constitution which stipulates, “Each Province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments. Elections to the local governments shall be held by the Election commission of Pakistan.” As is evident from this article, the local government system envisaged by the Constitution demands the devolution of full powers to local governments including development projects and the local administration, free from the strangulating control of the provincial governments.
The country also needs radical reforms in the way we elect our leaders. The present system of electing the legislators on a single constituency basis has actually strengthened and perpetuated the archaic and colonial system and concentrated political power in the hands of the elite and the feudal lords. The best way to break their monopoly on political power, is to adopt a system of proportional representation. Under this system, people vote for the parties rather than the individual candidates in a single constituency and the parties get representation in the parliament on the basis of the percentage of votes that they poll. The advantage of this system is that it reflects real support for political parties amongst the masses and also ensures the presence of smaller and regional parties in the parliament making the legislature a truly representative body. The party leaders are spared the blackmail of the hereditary legislators who keep shifting their loyalties to cash in on their ability to make and break governments. The system also eliminates the possibility of horse trading, floor-crossing and rigging, the issue which has presently created a political crisis in the country. To make this system really workable, voting will also have to be made compulsory as is the case in more than 50 countries, mostly European, where the proportional representation system is in vogue.
The PML (N) government, especially Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is committed to improving the system of governance in the country and has rightly been emphasizing the need for adherence to the Constitution and rule of law, owes it to the people to give them a system of local government in conformity with article 175 (3) and 140A (1-2) of the Constitution in consultation with provincial governments. Presently, all major political parties including PML(N), PPP and PTI which is campaigning for electoral reforms, are agreeable to the proposition. The PML(N) government should seize upon the opportunity to evolve consensus on the adoption of a proportional representation system and give the country a truly democratic dispensation by amending the Constitution.
The writer is a freelance columnist.
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