Local Bodies Elections in AJ&K : Right Wing Political parties are the main Obstacle

 

Local Bodies Elections in AJ&K : Right Wing  Political parties are the main Obstacle

Rizwan Ashraf

13 August 2022.

AJ&K(Pakistani Administrated Area), a politically vibrant territory which was established in 1947 during the division of State of Jammu & Kashmir, has witnessed various forms of governance along with local government systems at different points in history.

AJ&K having a politically active youth population, requires an extensive engagement strategy offering youth useful platforms to articulate their visions and aspirations, and enabling them to play leadership roles in society.

The local government system was introduced in AJ&K under the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Basic Democracies Act, 1960 and the governance system was consequently devolved to the grassroots level via local councils. The councils comprised of Union Councils, Town Committees, Tehsil Councils and District Councils. Local bodies soon attained an overriding importance as the power to elect the President of the State, previously enjoyed solely by the All Jammu & Kashmir Muslim Conference (AJ&KMC), was transferred to the Electoral College. This comprised of around 2,200 members elected at the district level. People who were elected through the local government system (BD system) formed the Electoral College to elect the President of AJ&K. The same Electoral College was responsible for electing the 12-member State Council which formed the government of AJ&K at the state level.

Later on, a number of amendments were introduced in the local government system. Some of the changes aimed at making it more democratic and responsive while others made it more subservient to different authorities. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Basic Democracies Act 1964 (Amendment), for example, was introduced to lay down the formula of no-confidence motion against the heads of different councils. The position of “Chief Adviser" was created who was directly answerable to his appointing authority, the Federal Government of Pakistan, and enjoyed sweeping powers in AJ&K

Through an Act in 1970, a democratic setup was introduced under the Presidential system on the basis of adult franchise for four years. The people of AJ&K and the refugees of Jammu and Kashmir settled in Pakistan elected the Legislative Assembly as well as the President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir for the first time. The Assembly consisted of 24 members and one co-opted lady member. The new set up totally sidelined the local government system in AJ&K.

Last local councils elections were held in 1991 and elected  members were in office till 1996. Local bodies system was suspended and instead of local bodies municipal administrators and chairman were installed on basis of political affiliation. After a long legal battle, High Court of AJK directed the JJK government to hold the local body elections. After 31 long years local bodies elections were announced by JJK election commission but in today's assembly session political parties passed a bill against local bodies election.

 

General Benefits of Local Councils:

 An empowered local government structure brought immense benefit to AJ&K in many ways, along with some long-term impacts. The era of economic development in AJ&K is attributed to the local bodies system in which the network of roads and bridges, water supply schemes as well as health and education infrastructure were established. These decision-making structures were devolved to the most basic unit (i.e. village level) across AJ&K, providing space and opportunity for the common people to communicate their issues and challenges to the elected representatives. Participatory mechanisms enabled people to identify their needs and challenges, and facilitated their participation in the development process through volunteerism. A huge constituency of people felt empowered and connected with these structures, and was consequently able to change their socio-economic conditions for better. It improved service delivery, promoted equity and development, and reduced poverty. This can be seen in the context of various programs introduced during the local bodies era in AJ&K.

More then 50 percent of the people from the existing political leadership of AJ&K who are either sitting in the AJ&K Assembly or had at least contested elections, emerged through the process of local bodies elections. It served as a “nursery” for the political leadership of AJ&K. Moreover, at a time when politics had become an expensive affair, requiring a lot of resources; this system offered a great support to the people who were marginalized and economically poor to come up and build their political careers with fewer resources. Politics, at the local level, doesn’t require many financial resources due to the small size of the local constituencies.

 

Results of Absence of Local Councils

 The failure to hold local government elections has weakened the democratic institutions and slowed down the process of the induction of new political leadership. It has also paved the way for family dominated politics. Therefore, the sense of participatory governance has long since evaporated from the political horizon. A high rate of unemployment and growing frustration amongst young people for not restoring local bodies has increased their vulnerability to radicalization. The population of AJ&K which has increased significantly over time has now reached 4.5 million. This growing population also creates huge pressure for the government to restore the local bodies in order to ensure service delivery, access to decision making and other social opportunities.

Right Wing Political parties are the Main Obstacle

 Right wing Political parties (Pro Pakistani)  of AJ&K are the main obstacle in local government system for many reasons. If the local bodies are active and energetic elected members will start taking care about their own areas then there will be no room available for the assembly members & bureaucratic elements for corruption, no chance for theft of public resources and cheating. Local bodies, since they are interacting with their local community daily, and being elected by the majority of peoples are answerable to their own communities. Political parties are not willing to get the right peoples in this framework , otherwise peoples will start knowing the real dark character of these leaders. Local development is not a part of the job of assembly members but only because of development of local infrastructure these assembly members are making peoples fools and blackmailing them from decades. Once local infrastructure development will be in the hands of local councils then who will give importance to these assembly members? And how they will loot the public resources. Assembly member’s job is to legislate but majority is not aware about the meaning of legislation. Also , Pakistani establishment is not allowing them to legislate in anyway. Since in AJK, Its just a symbolic system.

At All, Peoples of AJ&K must stand up for their basic rights and the looting & corruption of these right wing political parties. Peoples must stand up now for the revival of local bodies election to get the solution of their problems in their own hands.