April 4, 2003	Friday	Safar 1, 1424

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BHURBAN, April 3: Electronic and print media representatives questioned ‘credibility, viability and evolution of Gen Musharraf’s devolution plan’ and pointed out administrative and procedural loopholes in its implementation at a three-day seminar that started here on Thursday.

As many as 150 journalists had been invited by the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) to attend the orientation seminar on “Media and Governance”.

The participants agreed that under the new administrative reforms introduced at the district, Tehsil, and union council levels, a chain of new offices had been created mainly to facilitate general public. However, the move created a number of problems for lower middle class people, who did not know where to go for resolution of their problems.

Amidst heated debate, the new NRB chairman, Daniyal Aziz, flanked by the bureau’s consultants, faced a barrage of questions. A lively discussion ensued after his inaugural remarks.

Most of the participants, representing national and regional dailies and TV channels, were of the view that repeating the history, the devolution plan was the brain child of another military government and, therefore, likely to meet the same fate sooner or later.

A woman reporter said since Pakistan was a developing country, it was unjustifiable to expect that such an intricate system, having multi-tier membership councils, would succeed here. She maintained that even the district council members did not know about various modalities of the local government ordinance. Therefore, how can one expect that people, a majority of whom — 67 per cent — are illiterate according to official statistics, will help the government make the new system a success, she questioned.

Another participant said it had been observed by the media that military commanders — directly or indirectly — were influencing district Nazims, which needed to be stopped forthwith.

He said like national and provincial assemblies, local government elections should also be party based to help reduce politics of confrontation at district level. With the setting up of provincial governments, district Nazim from opposition camps have been sidelined, he claimed.

Another point raised on the occasion was about the increasing intervention of provincial governments in district governments’ affairs.

Haroon Bilour, a member from Peshawar district council, said, recently, under the direct orders of the chief minister, a number of transfers and postings had been made despite reservations of the district government.