May 28, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1427

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BHURBAN, May 27: The government has failed to implement the devolution plan in letter and spirit, says former chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Lt-Gen (retd) Tanwir Hussain Naqvi.

He was talking to this correspondent at the two-day Forum of Ministers of Social Development from Asia, which concluded here on Saturday.

He said the goals of devolution plan had not been achieved.

He said according to the actual plan, power was to be transferred from federation to provinces and from provinces to district governments. Unfortunately, power from federation to provinces was not shifted but provinces shifted their powers to districts. “This is the main cause of the system’s failure,” he said.

Lt-Gen Naqvi said the system required political will because it was favoured by “very few people” while the majority of elements were against it.

When asked if he would accept the responsibility if he was offered to head the NRB again, he said he was ready serve the country even today, adding that he could reset the devolution process on right track.

The former NRB chairman disagreed that two parallel systems were being run in the country (provincial and district government systems), saying that both the system had separate functions but confusion had emerged when powers were not transferred to provinces.

Later, speaking at the concluding session of the forum, he accused people who had been enjoying powers in the previous set-up but had been disempowered by the new system of impeding the implementation on the devolution process. He said: “These elements do not want the district coordination committees or the public safety commissions to function,” he said.

Lt-Gen Naqvi said that bureaucracy was one of the elements opposing the devolution of power. “Now, magistracy has no control over the police,” he added.

He stressed the need for inclusion of subjects of governance in syllabus. “The Higher Education Commission is engaged in producing engineers but it should also encourage students to study social science subjects besides introducing a masters degree on good governance,” he said.