Jamal Hussain
While both PPP and MQM in their respective manifestoes clearly state that establishment of Local Government (LG) by holding LG elections in order to take democracy down to the grassroots level is high on their agenda, the last five years rule of PPP led Sindh government (where MQM was a junior coalition partner) witnessed a clear violation of their party pledge when on one pretext or the other it refused to hold fresh LG elections after the term of the second elections held under LG 2001 Ordinance had expired in 2009. This was a major sore point with the MQM and was the principal reason the sorry spectacle of the hide and seeks of parting of company and rejoining was constantly on display. An examination of the parliamentary system as it is being practiced in Pakistan will reveal why majority of legislators at the National and Provincial levels are reluctant to implement the LG system in its true form.
The National and Provincial Assembly legislators in the country were uncomfortable with the LG Ordinance 2001 because it devolved financial and administrative powers from the bureaucrats to the elected LG members. LG elected officials who are responsible to the public they represent were not amenable to manipulation by the parliamentarians – the bureaucrats on the other hand were far easier to control, especially after the draconian changes that PPP under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had introduced where their constitutional protections were removed seriously undermining their independence.
Since then the bureaucracy has become subservient to the politicians and their survival depends on staying on the right side. In the absence of LG elected officials, the general public looked up to the legislators to address their grievances and judged them according to their ability to conduct development work in their constituencies rather than their legislative skills. In such a political ambiance the very survival of the politicians depended on addressing local issues of administration and infrastructure, the tasks that basically should have been the responsibility of the LG officials. Besides, exercising control of financial and administrative functions empowered them in a number of ways.
The primary responsibilities of parliamentarians both at the Federal and Provincial levels are legislation, budgetary allocations and oversight of public and private enterprises. They are not expected to get involved in development work at the lower tiers which should be the domain of the Local Government where they exist and in their absence, the bureaucracy. In Pakistan, unlike the more mature democracies, Local Government either was not in place or like the 1979 LG Act, their authority was curtailed. Only in the Musharraf era via the LG Ordinance 2001 much of the financial and administrative powers enabling them to execute their responsibilities were transferred to them. The first LG election under the new arrangement on a non-party basis was held in 2001 and in Karachi MQM boycotted the polls allowing a JI member Naimatullah Khan to get elected as the mayor of Karachi (Nazim e Aala). Freed from the clutches of the political/bureaucrat combine, the mayor and his team were able to do a good job and their performance was much appreciated by the Karachiites.
The second nationwide election under LG Ordinance 2001 was held in 2005 where despite being on a non-party basis all the political parties fielded their representatives as independent candidates. MQM triumphed and Mustafa Kamal was elected as the Karachi mayor. Young and dynamic Kamal carried on the good work that his predecessor had started and continued overhauling the city’s infrastructure with a religious fervour. He was fortunate to have the full backing of his party and even more from the federal government where President Musharraf, a Karachiite himself, provided much economic and administrative support. By 2007 Mustafa Kamal had managed to make major improvements in the city that brought fame and recognition to him and his party both on the domestic and international forums. Kamal’s success owed much to his adopting the corporate culture of efficiency, boldness and deliverance rather than the bureaucratic norms of safety and lethargy.
With the exit of Musharraf in 2008, the support to the LG elected officials from the centre dwindled considerably and the speed of progress which Mustafa Kamal had displayed up to 2007 decreased. His term expired in 2009 and instead of holding fresh LG elections the PPP government in Sindh scrapped it and in its stead reintroduced the old commissionerate set up. MQM, an ally of PPP in the province revolted and threatened to quit the coalition both in the province and the centre. After much haggling both agreed to a two-tiered solution where LG on the basis of the 2001 Ordinance were to be formed in selected urban centres of the province while elsewhere and in the rural areas the commissionerate system was invoked. This stirred a raging controversy and under the pressure of its rural constituencies PPP eventually withdrew the notification. MQM’s struggle to bring back the Musharraf era LG system failed to bear fruit and eventually just on the eve of the fresh general elections of 2013 it quit the coalition both at the province and the centre and became a part of the opposition. During the electioneering campaign, highlighting the achievements and performance of MQM’s mayor of Karachi Mustafa Kamal and the return of the LG 2001 were its principal campaign slogans.
The true essence of democracy is only possible where an effective and functioning LG system is in place because only then it functions at all the three levels: Federal, Provincial and Local. The irony is that the necessary legislations to establish the Local Government can only be introduced and enacted by the parliamentarians but in Pakistan there is a reluctance to do so because they do not want to surrender their hold on the financial and administrative functions of governance to a lower tier of elected officials.
MQM parliamentarians are an exception and the only one in the Sindh legislative assembly who are ardent supporters of an empowered LG system as envisioned in LG Ordinance 2001. Morally and ethically they are right but opponents doubt their motives. Many suspectitisanissueofpolitical convenience:they wonder iftheroleswerereversedand if the MQM were to be in controlofthe parliament and someotherpartydominated Karachi, wouldMQM still champion the LG 2001Ordinance?
PPP finally decided to implement the LG system but they preferred the 1979 one which was promulgated by Zia where the financial and administrative power was not devolved to the LG level and basically remained under the bureaucracy. MQM strongly opposes the new order but lacked the numbers in the assembly to block it. Behind the scene MQM is strongly lobbying for the reintroduction of LG 2001 while the PPP is adamantly resisting it but lately it has offered to negotiate with MQM and work out if necessary modifications in the LG 1979 would be acceptable to MQM – a compromise solution to the deadlock may be possible in future.
MQM, which started as an ethnic party with an ideological base on the platform of establishing an egalitarian society and ending feudalism now appears to have morphed into a commercial venture. The slogans have not been discarded but the new generation of young, urban, educated middle-class mid-level leadership that has emerged and the experience of Karachi mayorship under the dynamic Mustafa Kamal has convinced them that the future of the party lies in having control of the city’s financial and administrative networks and these must be administered by following the corporate values. They understand that in the foreseeable future the party is unlikely to make any serious inroads outside of Karachi and Hyderabad and cannot hope to win enough Provincial Assembly seats to form a government in the Sindh province. Karachi is and they hope will remain their bastion of power. The efficiency and speed with which Karachi under the Nazim Mustafa Kamal improved its creaking infrastructure earned the party much kudos and goodwill; it also helped it to fill its coffers without the need to resort to ‘chanda’ or ‘bhatta’ that in the public perception had become a part of the party’s culture. Without the ability to demonstrate their talent in managing and promoting Karachi’s financial potential they fear the new challengers like PTI may soon displace them in the metropolis. An empowered LG system as envisioned in LG Ordinance 2001 in Karachi has become a necessity for them without which the very future of the party may be endangered.
The 2013 General Election has resulted in the PML (N) winning a near plurality in the centre while sweeping the provincial assembly seats in the Punjab. In Sindh, however, the status quo prevailed where both PPP and MQM managed to maintain their stranglehold in the province and Karachi respectively albeit with a slightly lower mandate than what they had received in 2008. PPP by virtue of winning by a comfortable majority in the Sindh assembly has formed the provincial government there and they invited MQM to join them which the latter declined, preferring to play the opposition’s role. A year later there has been a change of heart and MQM has once again joined the PPP led provincial government in Sindh. Is that an indication that enough alterations that would appease the MQM in the LG system proposed by PPP has been agreed upon, is the million dollar question especially for the Karachiites.
The writer is a defence analyst and director of Centre of Airpower Studies and can be reached at jamal4701@yahoo.co.uk
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