LAHORE: Criticising the governance system, senior PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan asserts that nothing has fundamentally changed in the country’s power structure since Aug 13, 1947, except for replacing the British flag with Pakistan’s national flag.

He points out that the massive administrative machinery built by the British continues to run unchanged, leaving the nation burdened by $150bn in foreign debt while political parties continuously neglect local government elections.

Ahsan was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar, “More Provinces or Empowered District Governments” held by the Shaheed Bhutto Foundation at the South Asian Free Media Association on Thursday.

The event was moderated by Bushra Manzoor Manika and Ahmed Ghuman, and speakers included Liaquat Baloch, Mujeebur Rehman Shami, Ahmed Awais, Amir Bahadur Hoti, Barrister Aamir Hasan, Zahid Islam and Munizae Jahangir.

Aitzaz Ahsan emphasised that local bodies were indispensable, urging all political parties to conduct local elections and adopt austerity instead of lavish government spending.

Journalist Imtiaz Alam warned that the country’s primary issue remained an authoritarian system, noting that while the country had disintegrated before due to ignoring the public mandate, district governance in the past was often leveraged by military dictators to weaken parliament rather than truly empowering the grassroots.

Expanding on the legal and political dynamics, Shahzad Saeed Cheema noted that the 1973 Constitution remained the true social contract, yet every legislative move post-18th Amendment was under a cloud of skepticism, primarily because parliament operated under the shadow of the establishment.

Barrister Aamir also spoke.

Other panelists lamented the suffocating environment surrounding free speech and the absence of long-term national policies, calling for genuine political dialogue and civilian supremacy to address the nation’s severe economic and governance crises.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2026