Our politicians never get tired of trotting a moth-eaten cliché that they hold the constitution in profound reverence but let me focus their kind attention towards Article 140-A which has been violated by all the four provincial governments for the last four years. The said article requires the provincial governments to establish local bodies who should look after the needs of the people at grass root level. Judiciary in Pakistan is the most venerable pillar of the state which is a cherished source of salutary advice and observations to the executive and other institutions. Hats off to the Sindh High Court who has ordered the Sindh government to hold local bodies elections in the province within 90 days and at the same time has ordered the Election Commission to come up with the election schedule. The Sindh government has been procrastinating the said elections and could have dilly dallied the issue for as long time as possible had not the court ordered it to do so. The position of the governments in other provinces has now become untenable against their lame excuses to hold the grassroots level elections. The major excuse the provincial governments present not to hold the local body elections is the poor law and order situation. But it has been witnessed that the bye elections have held in a peaceful and tranquil manner nearly in all the four provinces. So there is no cogent reason to put the local bodies elections on the backburner. Undoubtedly, the horrible incident of firing at Aman rally the other day may well be exploited by the Sindh government to delay the elections. In fact the ugly reality behind the delay in the elections is that members of provincial assemblies don't want to lose control over the budget allocated to them for development purposes. The provincial governments don't want that the major chunk of the development budget be trickled down to the councilors and nazims. The provincial governments in Punjab, Balochistan and KPK should take a cue from the verdict of Sindh High Court and instead of dawdling away the time should immediately announce the dates of holding local bodies’ polls.
MUBUSHAR ALI SULEHRIA,
Wah Cantt, May 24.