THIS is with reference to the article ‘Uncertainty of local elections’ (May 2) by Kunwar Idris. A country has much more to harness from a well-established local government system.

In Turkey, the local government system is well organised. It has returned the country towards progress. The situation of public and social services is better there. Now Turkey has become a hub of economic and tourism activities. There is proper division of territories, as well as of  administrative affairs. Local government representatives, like the mayor, are elected for a term of five years on the basis of adult franchise.

The top leadership of Turkey is also the product of the local government system. They learnt the art of administration there and then came up to serve at the national level.

The prime minister of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan, was the mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. Turkey is divided into 81 provinces, with a further division of each province into eight districts. This is a unique system which has a proper system of checks and balances by the central government. The salient feature of this system is timely elections and management of finances. So there are fewer chances of mismanagement.

In Pakistan, we have many things to do for the local government system. First, local government system should be adopted according to area conditions. A uniform system will create problems for the whole country.

Karachi is an urban city with a different scenario, so the local government in Karachi cannot be as it will be in Lahore. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a province with a different setup as it carries long strips of tribal areas. So the involvement of tribal elders in their local setup is necessary.

The influence and interference of bureaucracy is also a hurdle in the way of free and efficient local government in Pakistan. Sometimes the projects of great importance are delayed due to red-tapisim.

It has been common practice that bureaucrats often use their influence to keep the locally-elected bodies on the back foot. Similarly, if we had an effective local government system, we would have resolved many of our issues like the availability of clean drinking water, health and education.

In the past local CCBs and other committees had helped a lot to address the problems at initial stages. All this is only possible when the elections for local governments are arranged timely.

It was 2005 when the last local government elections were held in Pakistan. There is no legal constraint for holding local elections in Pakistan. Moreover, Constitution also has provisions for the local government system in the country.

According to the 18th Amendment, the subject of local government elections has been transferred to the Election Commission of Pakistan. Now it is the duty of the ECP to arrange the local government elections in the country as soon as possible.

Pakistan is a developing country with a lot of work to do for the welfare of the people. We need an organised setup of local governments to solve many of our basic problems at the grassroots level.

In the wake of the 18th Amendment when the autonomy has been granted to the provinces, the local government system will be a blessing for the people. It can help us to solve the crisis of leadership. We can achieve the goal of good governance through this system. We can bring harmony in our social system. We can promote human rights, can teach our people about democracy. Local government elections should not be delayed.

MALIK M. USMAN ALI Sargodha