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Holding Parliamentary elections in about 60 days from a standing start, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) says that "Local Bodies" polls cannot be held soon for various reasons, informed sources claim delays may range from 4 months to 8 even. The deliberate footdragging in the various Provincial Local Bodies Bills confirms lipservice only to the concept for local govt.
While the perception of a democratic environment has been created by the national polls, laws are being framed for power to be in the hands of a few trusted individuals selected by "democratically elected" rulers. To Musharrafs credit, while his Local Bodies initiative was not perfect, it did bring self-govt down to the grassroots level. This was soon corrupted by those politicians who became his collaborators from 2002 to 2007, very much with Musharrafs willing knowledge to perpetuate his uniformed rule under the guise of "democracy".
One is deeply disappointed at PTI's performance to date in KPK, Imran Khan needs to come good on his repeated promises of a model local govt, and soon! To quote my article "An Exercise in Democracy" of August 18, 2005, "Democracy is of no use to the individual unless the various freedoms are available at his (or her) doorstep and he (or she) has a say without any hinderance in the governance of his (or her) immediate community. Local Bodies provides the "grass roots" democracy that is extremely important for the welfare and well-being of a unified society," unquote. Without providing effective participation of the citizen in the affairs of his community, democracy is a convenient farce, in a feudal society it is a hypocrisy. Vested interests have prevented local govt from functioning on one pretext or the other since 1947, with disastrous results. Where are we now? To quote my article "Politics of Expediency" of Feb 28, 2013, "The deliberate hash of local government to reflect the diverse demographics of the ruling coalition,...