Balochistan achieved the distinction on Wednesday of being the only province to have completed local government elections. Creditably for him, proving his commitment to the principle of empowering people at the gross roots level, Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch held the first phase of LG elections a few months after coming to power, ie, in December 2013. The process took such a long time to be completed because of extraneous circumstances. At first, union council elections were marred by threats of terrorist violence. Polling could not take place in different parts of Makran, central and eastern Balochistan due to shutter-down and wheel-jam strikes on the call of Baloch insurgents. Filling the vacant seats caused an inordinate delay in completion of the electoral process.
Also creating problems has been the troublesome nature of the ruling coalition. The provincial Nawaz League's senior leadership headed by a traditional Sardar and the CM from a middle-class background represented different interests, which played out in a constant power tussle within the government. According to a press report, for the last phase of the election for mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and deputy chairmen of district and union councils, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had directed his party councillors to vote for joint candidates. Yet the party provincial leadership insisted that the other two coalition partners, namely the CM's National Party and the Pakthunkhawa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) support PML-N candidates for the positions of mayor and deputy mayor of Quetta. In the event, although the two joint candidates, Dr Kalimullah and Younis Lehri, belonging to the PkMAP and PML-N, respectively, got elected to the two offices as joint candidates, a Nawaz League group led by a former city 'nazim' and mayor of Quetta, Rahim Kakar, boycotted the election in defiance of his party chief's instructions.
It is a measure of Chief Minister Dr Baloch's dedication to the principle of devolution of power that despite an odd alliance and consequent political manoeuvrings he has managed to hold elections to the third-tier of government where people can address local issues and concerns through local solution. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has for a while been ready to do likewise but is awaiting the provincial Election Commission to sort out some technical issues. Regrettably, the two bigger provinces, Punjab and Sindh, continue to resist holding LG polls on one pretext or the other despite repeated Supreme Court orders. Ceding power to local governments obviously is an anathema to them. They would rather continue with the old system of patronages to promote and protect their own interests. Just the other day, the Prime Minister decided to resume the practice of giving Rs 20 million grant per annum to National Assembly members in the name of development schemes. Nowhere in established democracies do lawmakers receive federal funds to undertake development projects in their constituencies. That is the job of local bodies. Past experience also shows bulk of such funds ends up lining the pockets of legislators themselves along with colluding bureaucrats. Hopefully, the example set by a small and much-troubled province Balochistan will put Punjab and Sindh to shame urging them to stop dragging their feet from holding local government elections.