Quake delays democracy in Islamabad: National Assembly told
By Syed Irfan Raza
ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: Last October’s earthquake crumbled not just the Margalla Towers but, it seems, also the hopes that the capital city would get an elected administration any time soon. Minister in-charge of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat Dr Sher Afghan informed the National Assembly on Friday that the earthquake has “delayed further” a decision on holding local government elections in Islamabad.
“Due to the earthquake the date for local government elections in the capital would be informed by the government later,” he said responding to a question raised by MNA Jamila Ahmed.
However, the minister did not answer why the local government polls could not be held earlier in the federal capital.
A source in Islamabad administration said the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had sent a letter to the Ministry of Interior to ask the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) how the devolution plan would be implemented in Islamabad.
So far neither the CDA nor the district administration had received any instruction from NRB regarding the implementation of the devolution plan.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had assured before the local government elections held across the country earlier this year that same would be held in Islamabad “at any cost”.
“If all other districts of the country already have LG system, then Islamabad, being the capital of the country, should not be deprived of this system,” he had said.
According to the minister the Interior Ministry and the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) were finalizing modalities to enforce Local Government System in Islamabad following the LG elections in 2005.
Since then various authorities have been making conflicting statements on the issue, raising doubts about the government’s intentions.
Mr Sherpao, however, had rejected the impression that the interior ministry did not want the present bureaucratic district administration in Islamabad to be replaced by an elected body.
“May be the interior ministry had opposed the enforcement of LG system in the capital in the past, but I am very clear that this system must be implemented here for distribution of powers to the grassroots level,” he said in a recent statement.
