Local government system

Introduction

Local governments provide services such as sanitation, water supply, local roads, primary education and health, and birth and death registration. They also train citizens in democracy. Ironically, in Pakistan they have often been strengthened by military rulers seeking local legitimacy and weakened by elected governments.

History

• Basic Democracies (1959): Ayub Khan's four-tier system of union, tehsil, district and divisional councils; 80,000 'basic democrats' also elected the President.
• Local Government Ordinances (1979): Zia-ul-Haq's elected councils in each province, with elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987.
• Devolution of Power Plan (2000) and Local Government Ordinance (2001): Musharraf's three-tier system.
• Article 140A (2010): requires each province to establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to elected representatives.
• Provincial local government laws were passed from 2013 onwards; elections were held after Supreme Court orders in 2015, and again in several provinces in 2021–23.

The 2001 system: district (zila) government

• Headed by an elected Zila Nazim, with a Zila Council as the legislative body.
• The District Coordination Officer (DCO) replaced the Deputy Commissioner and coordinated Executive District Officers for each department.
• Large cities became City District Governments (such as Karachi and Lahore).
• Responsible for education, health, agriculture, works and finance at the district level.

Tehsil government (Tehsil Municipal Administration)

• Headed by an elected Tehsil Nazim, with a Tehsil Council.
• Responsible for municipal services: water supply, sanitation, roads, streetlights, land use and building control.

Union administration

• The Union Council was the lowest tier, headed by an elected Union Nazim and Naib Nazim.
• Responsible for local development, birth and death registration, community facilities and dispute resolution through Musalihat Anjumans.
• One-third of council seats were reserved for women, and seats for workers, peasants and minorities.
• Citizen Community Boards allowed citizens to propose and co-finance local projects.

Current systems

• Each province now has its own law: for example, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's system of tehsil councils with directly elected chairmen and village and neighbourhood councils; Sindh's metropolitan, municipal and union councils; and Punjab's successive laws, with long gaps between elected councils.
• Islamabad has its own local government law (2015).

Conclusion

Pakistan has experimented with many local government models. The 2001 system was the most ambitious in devolving power, while Article 140A now makes local government a constitutional requirement.