The independents ruled the roost in the recently held Balochistan local bodies elections, signifying yet again, how fractured, and removed from the political mechanics of the rest of Pakistan the province is. Other than the JUI-F, no mainstream political party from the rest of Pakistan made the cut as far as scoring a significant number of wins was concerned. There was some unfortunate violence, yes, even one death being one death more than acceptable. But given the restive nature of the province, things weren’t as bad as they potentially could have been.
Our troubled southern province still has a number of anti-centre – but not anti-state – political forces. They still retain some legitimacy on account of their not being the mouthpieces of the deep state yet are, fortunately, still rooted in the idea of a united federation. The state needs to make sure that these voices, and indeed, those of the aforementioned independents who did well in the polls, are heeded.
To segue on to the third tier of government in general, the remaining two provinces, Sindh and Punjab, also need to carry out these polls as soon as possible. But this should not stop there. The provinces (yes, the provinces, since local government is a provincial subject) need to draft a plan that would empower the local governments more than they currently are. This could be a work in progress; the 18th amendment, which empowered the second tier of government, didn’t appear magically out of thin air one fine day. There was a political consensus that led to it. But that also required some deft political management, an event that was one of the PPP’s finest moments, something which it is seeing less and less of in recent years.
Of course, inter-district issues just might be harder to iron out than inter-provincial ones. It might be like trying to herd cats, but we believe in the maturity and proactivity of our political class to do the needful. It is when we have a populace even more invested in the democratic process, at the grassroots level, that the chances of misadventures by unelected institutions can be lowered.
