KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has conceded that the local government system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has not been implemented fully because of opposition from his own provincial lawmakers and the bureaucracy.

“Legally this system [the Khyber Pakhtunkwa Local Government Act] has been enforced in the province, but its practical implementation will take some time,” the PTI chief told BBC Urdu. “We have taken some revolutionary steps which had never been taken in Pakistan and hence the opposition. Even our MPAs and bureaucracy are opposing it.”

Mr Khan was interviewed by BBC Urdu specifically on the four-year performance of the PTI-led government in KP.

He said that the LG system of KP was the best in all the four provinces of the country. “The Karachi mayor says he wants the [LG] system of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa...councillors of Punjab also wishing the same...there must be something in it if all these people are demanding this system.”

When asked as to why the powers were not being devolved to the elected LG representatives, Mr Khan said there were certain difficulties in implementing it because it was a “unique and new” system.

Admitting his party’s lack of experience in running the KP government, he said he was grateful to the Almighty that he did not get a chance to form his government at the Centre after the 2013 general elections.

He said except for Pervez Khattak, the KP chief minister, all of his people were new who for about one year could not understand what was going on in the province.

He said he himself and his team had learnt a lot in KP during the past four years. “The lessons we learnt in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be very effective for us at the Centre when we get [federal] government.”

He said he was proud of the “successes” of the KP government in implementing the LG system, investing in the education sector and bringing health reforms in the province.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2017