Chowrangi

As most of the pundits are predicting that it’s the twilight of the Musharraf era, and of course if he goes, out goes the PML-Q and their toadies. Terrorism, economy, and the general plight of the people will be playing a role to impact his legacy, but structural problems he has created for the in the form of local government could be enormous.

The previous system of Assistant Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners was surely a product of British era, but like their lasting products including universities, bridges, railway system and plethora of others, their system of governance at the grass root level was also workable and it had survived the blows of time.

What we have now is the miniature version of corruption, incompetency and looting at the grass root level from the hands of many kinds of Nazims subsuming District Nazim, Tehsil Nazim, and Town Nazim and the list goes on. In the current scenario, the Nazim would surely be any relative of the MNA or MPA of that area. In these elections these Nazims are acting as a campaign tool for these MNAs and MPAs.

This local government system has wrecked havoc with the lives of people at grass root level, and now they don’t know where to go to register their complaints and how to get help. Every thing is politicized now, and if you don’t have rapport with any political goon, you cannot even imagine getting your complaint heard.

One of the major doubts and objections opposition parties has over the fairness of the election 2008 is the presence of these Nazims and Naib Nazims. PML-Q, as reported by many newspapers almost on daily bases, is utilizing these Nazims, their offices, funds and their resources to run their election campaign. I don’t know what the Election Commission is doing? They should be the first to take the notice the gross violation of the election rules. But then we all know how the cookie crumbles in the fatherland nowadays.

Other posts by Commoner

• Habitual Condemnation - November 21st, 2008
• Sandwitched Population - November 21st, 2008
• Clear the Dust - November 20th, 2008
• Exactly What They Want - November 20th, 2008
• Punjab Heats Up - November 19th, 2008
• Eyeball to Eyeball - November 18th, 2008
• No Surprises There - November 18th, 2008
• Yousuf Ready to Leave "Power" - November 18th, 2008
• OGRA Website Hacked By Indian Hackers - November 17th, 2008
• Friends Of Pakistan Again Disappoints - November 17th, 2008