ISLAMABAD: If the Supreme Court has its way, the residents of 43 cantonment areas across the country will get to elect their local level representatives on April 25 after 16 years.

However, the Supreme Court order has raised more questions than it has answered.

For instance, it appears that the elections will have to be held on a non-party basis as the Cantonment Act 1924 section 15-BB, introduced in 1979, prevents nominees of political parties from contesting these elections.

“The Supreme Court wants elections held in cantonment areas but the government did not make amendment to the Cantonment Act which clearly states that elections will be held on a non-party basis,” said Election Commission spokesman Khursheed Alam, when contacted.

In other words, two systems will prevail in the country - one for cantonments and another for the rest of the country, as local government polls in the four provinces in general will be held on party basis.

The PML-N led federal government has been dilly-dallying on this legislation for the last one year.

“The government should pass the amendments to the Cantonment Act 1924; these were tabled in the National Assembly last year. The government brought the amendments bill under the pressure of the Supreme Court but then sat on it,” said former Nazim and PTI Punjab Vice President Raja Tariq Kiyani.

“The PML-N government has been trying to avoid holding local government polls in the country, especially the cantonment areas,” said PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar.

The last elections in cantonment areas were held in 1998, on a non-party basis. Elsewhere, local-level elections were held on a party basis.

After General Pervez Musharraf came to power following the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif’s government, he suspended the cantonment boards across the country.

And the running of the cantonment areas was handed over to mini boards comprising the relevant station commander and a civilian and military official each (who were nominated by the station commander). These boards monitor the work of civic bodies such as education and health as well as revenue and planning.

The station commander – who is a serving brigadier — leads the cantonment bureaucracy. He is called the President of the Cantonment Board and all the work is carried out under his watch.

He approves building plans of commercial and residential buildings, the development work, and the budget.

Later when Musharraf held local government elections in 2001, the cantonment areas were not part of this democratic experiment.

“Former president Pervez Musharraf did not extend the local government system in cantonment as there was a perception that the elected civilian will interfere in military matters and settlements,” Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, who has served on Rawalpindi Cantonment, told Dawn.

Now the question still remains as to how the military will react to the SC decision.

So far, grass roots democracy has evaded the cantonments; though local government elections were held in Balochistan in 2013, the cantonment areas did not get to poll – in Quetta, Zhob, Loralai and Ormara.

However, the Election Commission spokesman Khursheed Alam said that the Election Commission wanted legislation so that party-based elections could be held across the country, including the cantonments.

But this is not the only legal hitch at the moment.

It is also not clear if the election will be conducted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) or the Military Lands and Cantonments.

Under the Cantonment Act 1924, cantonment boards are in charge of holding the election.

However, under the pressure of the Supreme Court, the government promulgated an ordinance on March 4, which empowers the ECP to hold elections in cantonment boards.

“This Cantonment Amendment Ordinance 2015 empowers the Election Commission to hold the elections,” said Sajid Ilyas Bhatti, a lawyer.

However, he admitted that the elections would still be held on a non-party basis as the new ordinance does not address this issue.

In addition, the military’s domination of cantonments does not end with the holding of local-level elections.

Once elections are held, each cantonment will acquire a board which will include a mix of elected and nominated members, which will be headed by the station commander who continues to head it. He also nominates the unelected members and he has final approval over all decisions taken by the board.

For instance, if a cantonment has 24 members, 10 are directly elected; two are indirectly elected and another 12 are nominated by the station commander.

Former Nazim Raja Tariq Kiyani told Dawn that the government should revive the 2001 local government system and extend it to the cantonment areas so that elected representatives are responsible for all local matters ranging from education to police.

“Without powers, the elected representative will be mere showpieces,” he added.

Raja Mudasir, a lawyer, also argued that there was a need to empower the civilians and end the equal representation of civil and army bureaucracy in the cantonment boards.

“The elected people should make the decisions. At present, the Station Commander makes the final decisions,” he said.

He said that the mini-board led by Station Commander has held meeting every month to approve building plans, development, water supply schemes, construction of parks, roads and others.

Published in Dawn March 12th , 2015

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