Can the Local Government System flourish Democracy in Pakistan?
The history of the local government system in the subcontinent is old. The Aryans, for the first time, introduced a local government system in the region. The panchayat system proved its efficiency and was used to govern local affairs, such as the allocation of land to peasants for cultivation, tax collection, dispute resolution, and the provision of basic necessities of the population/ settlements.
State functionaries were interested primarily in maintaining law and order and collecting revenue for the central government. The local bodies flourished as an active organ of the village community and performed development, administrative and judicial functions, not in the modern sense, but in their own way.
In Pakistan, the first extensive local government system was introduced through the Basic Democracies Ordinance 1959, after the military assumed power through a coup by Gen Ayub Khan. He dissolved the higher tiers of elected governments in 1959 and revived local governments as the only representative tier of the government.
Later, he introduced the Municipal Administration Ordinance of 1960, which had a hierarchical system of four linked tiers. The lowest tier was union councils consisting of elected members. The union council members elected the chairman from amongst themselves.
Overall, following the colonial legacy, local governments were controlled by the bureaucracy. Deputy commissioners and commissioners, chief bureaucrats at the district and the division level, respectively, had the power to annul any proceedings or decisions taken by the local councils.
The military again got control of state power through Gen Ziaul Haq’s coup in 1977 when it ousted the government of the Pakistan Peoples Party. Zia introduced the most coercive and centralized state apparatus through the imposition of Martial Law and put the constitution in abeyance.
A local government system was introduced in the absence of national and provincial governments under the direct control of the military. Under this law, local government elections were held partyless in all provinces in Pakistan. The local governments introduced under this system worked till 2000.
Gen Musharraf introduced a new local government system through the Local Government Ordinance (LGO) 2001. The major distinction of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance (PLGO) 2001 compared with previous ordinances was the elimination of the urban-rural divide. Local governments were created at three levels: union council, tehsil council, and district council.
After Musharraf’s ouster in 2008, the Pakistan Peoples Party came to power and introduced the 18th Constitutional Amendment that enhanced provincial autonomy. The constitutional restriction on amending the Local Government Ordinance of 2001 already expired in 2009. It thus became possible for the provinces to legislate a local government system of their choosing. Consequently, different provinces opted for other structures for their local governments. The provincial assembly of Balochistan passed the Local Government Act in 2010 whereas the provincial assemblies of the Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa passed their local government acts in 2013.
In 2015, local government elections were held but in August 2018 Imran Khan’s Tehreek-i-Insaf came to power; in May 2019, Khan dismantled the local government structures in the provinces controlled by his party and promised to introduce a modern and more effective system.
Our democratic governance system has been either inefficient or completely suspended. This is arguably a major cause for weak democratic institutions and democratic values in our society.
Strengthening the system of local body government can strengthen democracy. It is not only the source of reviving the essence of democracy from the gross route level but also bringing more confidence to the people by addressing their grievances.
