AFTER hearing a case of the local government election the Supreme Court asked the provincial government administration to submit the schedule of local bodies’ election.

It is not clear if the Supreme Court will take any action against provincials governments for not honouring the constitution, and avoiding holding the local bodies’s election on clumsy excuses and unfounded reasons during the last four years.

It is an irony that the political government is always reluctant to hold local bodies’ election in time.

Why doesn’t the civilian government want to empower people at the grassroots’ level? Democracy will not be complete without local government functioning.

Democracy, with all it s weaknesses, is still considered the best system of government, as it ensures basic rights of the people to elect their representatives to govern them for a specific period of time. If the government fails to meet aspirations and expectations of the people, they will remove it with their vote after the tenure of the government.

Without any local government, democracy is sham as it does not empower people at the grassroots to to solve their problems concerning civic services, roads, schools, health, sports activities, social welfare activities, matters related to land ownership, etc, at district or town level.

During the last four years, provincial governments are depending on civil bureaucracy to manage the local government, instead of people’s elected representative.

The bureaucracy following the pre-independence methodology of governance is not much changed. Its interest and loyalties are with the ruling elite class.

S. HUSSAIN Lahore