Now to define what local is
No surprises there. The MQM’s aversion to the commissioner system was well known to all. With it, the province of Sindh is again empowered to run the affairs of the city through a career bureaucrat. But that is far from what should be worrying the party; because a reversion to local government is inevitable. Its concentration span should, in fact, be spread out to a larger time period and try to recognise certain trends.
Why the resumption to the local government system is such a foregone conclusion, which a party like the MQM (maybe even the PML(N)) cannot understand and parties like the PPP and ANP do, is that the lower tiers of activists demand empowerment and are not in the least bit afraid to demand it from party bigwigs. Not resuming local government is going to alienate activists from parties that have nothing to show for themselves but those very same activists.
Hunky dory for the MQM eventually, then? Not quite. Because the party’s mantra of devolution is going to be taken much further in the future by other parties by splitting up Karachi into five districts. Even when the local government system is resumed, expect these Nazims to call the shots, not the Frankensteinesque position of CDGK Nazim. It is expected that matters pertaining to the holistic whole of the city would be examined by a coordination council including representatives from all districts who would all be subordinates of the districts they belong to.
On the legislative level, also expect some reversing of the Musharraf era gerrymandering. Even the most casual of observer would note that the positive political framework of the state has not caught up with new ethnic demographics of the city.
At the end of the day, local government is a provincial subject; all provinces have to decide on their own the level to which their local governments can be empowered.
Local governments – of an effective, efficient and above all, fair, sort – are instrumental in our dialogue with democracy. It is only when the electorate is invested in this tier of governance, will there be a greater appreciation of the democratic process. No other route is acceptable, whether it is the blanket disapproval of the local government by the PML(N) in the Punjab or the pick-and-choose approach by the MQM.