Why People Of Sindh Are Rejecting The Black Amendments In Local Government Act. 2013

[W.11]

Posted on: 22/12/2013

As you are aware that PPP Government in Sindh has tried their best to avoid enablement of 3rd Tier of Democracy at the Grassroots level by delaying Local Government elections since almost past 4 years, and in order to distract and divert the timely course of action have been practically playing political gimmicks by introducing one after the other amendments in Local Government Act making it useless after every such amendment.

Initially they repelled almost all the public friendly components of the SLGO 2001 (which has genuinely delivered to the people of Sindh) and rolled back legislation to the outdated 1979 act introduced by the then dictator Zia-ul-Haq, MQM has been fighting for the democratic cause of the people of Sindh and have negotiated with PPP & allies many times in past 3 years but unfortunately the attitude of PPP led Government of Sindh has always shown their lack of commitment and non-serious attitude towards empowerment of Local Government System.

Finally due to the pressure of public, courts and election commission of Pakistan PPP lead Sindh Govt. was not left with any choice but to issue roadmap for the conduct of Local Government Elections however now they have gone to the next level by manipulating provincial executive powers and numbered majority in Sindh Assembly they have multiple times by introduction of amendments through ordinances and bills in assembly made a mess of Local Government System, curtailing almost all of their financial and executive powers on one hand and on the other hand by introducing unprecedented and illogical electoral process tried their best to make the whole LG system and election process a controversial joke with the people of Sindh.

Following are few of many such examples in this flawed law recently passed by Sindh Assembly by PPP despite a total consensus of all opposition parties against it:

1) After the recent amendments the financial powers of the elected local bodies are curtailed as Chairman / Vice Chairman have no powers to collect revenue, whereas Local Taxes which were within their jurisdiction have been taken away and made provincial subject which is in violation with 140-A of the constitution of Pakistan.

2) Violating article 25 of the constitution of Pakistan, individual candidates have been barred to contest elections and only a complete panel of candidates can contest jointly, ironically even if the nomination papers of 1 candidate are found not correct the whole panel will stand disqualified to participate in elections which is in violation with basic human rights.

3) Delimitation of electoral constituencies is the domain of election commission and as per the relevant laws it has to be done in relation to the last/latest census statistics however after this unconstitutional amendment the powers to delimit constituencies have been granted to the district administration bureaucrats who serve under the wish and will of provincial government.

4) Five different conflicting notifications have been issued regarding delimitation to confuse the people and have resulted in a huge number of petitions in courts regarding the disputes arising consequent to these unjust and unfair delimitation cases.

5) Further to assist politically motivated discriminatory delimitation they have allowed a dubious population range gap in a way that a single UC can be delimited on a population range anywhere between 10 to 50 thousand which has resulted in unjust distribution of constituencies both in urban and rural areas which will further increase gap between urban and rural sentiment.

6) This Local Government Amendment so far is the most controversial legislation in the history of Sindh Assembly as all opposition parties are united against the malafide intentions of PPP and all opposition parties in Assembly have filed constitutional petitions in Sindh High court against the Act.

7) According to sub clause 11 of clause 2 of this controversial amendment the 'Chief Executive' of all local bodies will be Bureaucrats and not the elected representatives as in a UC chief executive will be the UC secretary, in districts the municipal officer will hold the post and in metropolitan corporation the powers of chief executive will remain with the municipal commissioner therefore neither UC/District Chairman/Vice Chairman will have any powers nor the Mayor/Deputy Mayor.

8) Regardless of the population size each UC will get equal financial allocation which is a highly dubious act since the population rage gap maybe anywhere between 10 to 50 thousand therefore it is feared that larger urban population based UCs will be deprived of funds and will be discriminated.

9) The unconstitutional process of pre-poll rigging by changing the boundaries / demography of constituencies is the worst example of gerrymandering which has been ruthlessly applied by executive and legislative actions by the PPP led Sindh Government.

10) All opposition parties in Sindh Assembly and prominent voices of Civil Society have expressed deep concerns on these negatively motivated ambitious actions taken by the Sindh Government.

 

[AhsanAmin]

@W.11, I do not know the exact details of new local bodies law, but most of the points, as you stated here, do make sense and it seems that there are problems in this new law.

I hope the stand you have taken is validated in the higher courts.

Just to add a few words about your party in the current political context. People of Pakistan, everywhere have a tendency to like PPP more than MQM since PPP is a more national party with roots in every province, so their voice is easily heard by the general public.

On the other hand, MQM is a relatively local player in large urban parts of Sindh. But MQM's advantage could be to work in Karachi and present it as a model city to rest of the Pakistan. To a certain extent, we can compare it to PML(N)'s strategy, who tried to develop urban centres of Punjab and also maintained law and order there. Their efforts were rewarded in the recent elections. As I see, if you do good developmet work in Karachi, make it a peaceful city, people elsewhere would have more belief in your party.

My impression is that Pakistanis want honesty in Politics. This was one of the major reasons Imran Khan's party won quite a few seats. Now we want to see how he implements his agenda in KPK which might decide the fate of his party. MQM has great political support and influence in the largest city in Pakistan. I hope you win LB elections and really if you want to have similar influence in the rest of Pakistan, best way would be to do whatever good you can in Karachi and maintain law and order there, and this would be the best strategy to win real respect and support of people elsewhere in Pakistan.

 

[W.11]

@W.11, I do not know the exact details of new local bodies law, but most of the points, as you stated here, do make sense and it seems that there are problems in this new law.

I hope the stand you have taken is validated in the higher courts.

Just to add a few words about your party in the current political context. People of Pakistan, everywhere have a tendency to like PPP more than MQM since PPP is a more national party with roots in every province, so their voice is easily heard by the general public.

On the other hand, MQM is a relatively local player in large urban parts of Sindh. But MQM's advantage could be to work in Karachi and present it as a model city to rest of the Pakistan. To a certain extent, we can compare it to PML(N)'s strategy, who tried to develop urban centres of Punjab and also maintained law and order there. Their efforts were rewarded in the recent elections. As I see, if you do good developmet work in Karachi, make it a peaceful city, people elsewhere would have more belief in your party.

My impression is that Pakistanis want honesty in Politics. This was one of the major reasons Imran Khan's party won quite a few seats. Now we want to see how he implements his agenda in KPK which might decide the fate of his party. MQM has great political support and influence in the largest city in Pakistan. I hope you win LB elections and really if you want to have similar influence in the rest of Pakistan, best way would be to do whatever good you can in Karachi and maintain law and order there, and this would be the best strategy to win real respect and support of people elsewhere in Pakistan.

thing is not about extending MQM's influence in other parts of the country but to create peace and stability in Karachi which is presently going through economic, social, security and all sorts of crises because of PPP

but feudals are trying hard to given minimum opportunity and authority to local people

its to be honest very difficult because there is very little roam for performance, as you know, no financial, very little administrative, no security responsibility is given to the local leaders

but time will tell if MQM comes and tries to perform, how well it will adjust to this new system and if they can do some serious efforts to demand such authority from provincial assembly

but i agree, good performance will give lots of positives vibes in other parts of country

the cancer which karachi is developing is effecting the rest of the country

effective local body system for Karachi is much more vital for the country then other parts of the country PMLN

 

[AhsanAmin]

@W.11, I saw some discussions on TV about this issue. It does seem that new local bodies law is biased and politically motivated against MQM. They(PPP) are trying to affect both the composition of next local bodies in Karachi and how finances are spent by the new local bodies in the city. I think these problems are so obviously evident that I am sure the higher courts will certainly nullify the new laws.

The reasons PPP leaders cited behind the new laws did not seem to be compelling at all which betrays dishonest motives behind these extreme changes. MQM has taken a very right and principled stand on this issue.

 

[W.11]

@W.11, I saw some discussions on TV about this issue. It does seem that new local bodies law is biased and politically motivated against MQM. They(PPP) are trying to affect both the composition of next local bodies in Karachi and how finances are spent by the new local bodies in the city. I think these problems are so obviously evident that I am sure the higher courts will certainly nullify the new laws.

The reasons PPP leaders cited behind the new laws did not seem to be compelling at all which betrays dishonest motives behind these extreme changes. MQM has taken a very right and principled stand on this issue.

i don't know, these courts are also bikao courts, these courts have political influence, i really hope they are as independent as they claim to be

the courts have yet to come up with decisions and time is running out