Local Governance in

Pakistan
Historical Review (1947-2018)
Abstract
“Management of local affairs
by local representatives is called
local self-
government”.
Local government of a state is an
administrative body which plays
its role
at rural and urban areas. It deals
with the issues on grass-root level.
It is based on
district, divisional and municipal
level committees or councils.
After independence, Pakistan
struggled for maintain a strong
structure of
central, provincial and local
governments. It was time to time
and step by step
development in local
governments.
Many different acts was passed for
organizing the local governments,
like
Sindh Local Authority Service
Act 1947, Baluchistan
Municipal Act 1946,
N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950,
Town Improvement Act 1953,
Village Aid
Programme (1954).
In 1959, Ayub Khan took over the
power and first time he organized
the
local government as a regular
authority. He introduced ‘Basic
democracy’ in
which describes the local structure
for local bodies. Next to him, PPP
came into
power and improve local
government. But, the war of 1971
destroyed the system.
Later Zia was re-organized
the local government and
introduced the ‘Local
Government Ordinance’.
Musharraf also introduced 5Ds
model for local
government. The recent
government was also reform the
local government and
introduced the KPK Act 2013 and
Punjab local government Act
2013.
Introduction
Central government and
provincial governments have
their own broad
goals and targets to achieve in the
light of their given powers.
Because of their
heavy duties, they have no
required knowledge to manage the
local issues and not
able to deal with grass-root level.
Therefore, there is need to an
authority to deal
with these issues, formed local
government. Local self-
government refers to
manage the local affairs; like
villages or towns by elected local
representatives.
“SIDGWICK, says that the term
local government means the
organs, which
though completely subordinate
to the central legislature, are
independence of
central executive in
appointment and to some
extent in their decisions and
exercise a partially
independent control over
certain parts of public
finance.”
(Khan)
As Maciver says, local
government plays three types of
functions to fulfill its
goals. First, to develop
standards of community and
to enhance national
importance, this is belonged to
central government. Second, to
fulfill the needs of
community and to improve their
universal character, this is related
to provincial
governments. Third, some
functions to improve local issues
of society concerns,
like streets, transports and sanitary
etc.
After the partition of sub-
continent, as becoming newly
independence
state Pakistan inherited the interim
constitution by amending the India
Act 1935.
In light of Indian Act of
1935, Provinces were
responsible for the local
governments, and the
responsibility of Cantonment
boards of cantt areas was
given to the central government.
This condition was continued till
1958, before
the first Martial-law enforced in
Pakistan.
In 1958, after the enforcement of
Martial-law, General Ayub Khan
was
introduced the ‘Basic
Democracy’, which is at the
door steps of the people.
During the period of 1972-75,
when East Pakistan separated
from West Pakistan,
the urban local governments
was effected badly and
ignored by government
because of disturbed authorities.
In 1977, Zia-ul-haq enforced
Martial law again and re-
energized the local
government’s policy. He
introduced the ‘Local Government
Ordinance of 1979’,
which provide the four-tier
structure for urban areas and
two-tier structure for
rural areas. During the period of
1988-99 many different
authoritative figures
implemented the local government
system in accordance to its
needed. And then,
in 1999 martial-law was again
enforced by General Pervez
Musharraf and he was
immediately introduced the seven-
point agenda and later in 2000his
government
introced the ‘Devolution of
Power Plan’ for local
governments. The recent
government of PML’N also
worked for local self-government,
and was introduced
the ‘Local Governments Act of
2013’ and ‘Sindh Local
Government Act 2013’.
Keywords: Local Government,
Early Independence Acts, Ayub
era, Zia era,
Musharraf era, Recent
Government
Structure of Local
Government
Local government is a body,
which is a form of public
administration,
active for a small and specific
geographic area, like city, town or
village. It works
like national government, but only
on a smaller scale. There is no
country, which
have not its local government. In
some countries the term is used
‘Municipal
government’ for local
government. But in Pakistan it
is known as ‘District
government system’. There are
two types of local government.
1-Loacal Government: It is served
by appointed bureaucrats.
2-Local Self-Government: It is
served by elected representatives.
[ CITATION
Bhu16 \l 1033 ]
Structure of local government in
Pakistan;
Figure.1[ CITATION Was16 \l
1033 ]
In Pakistan, local government
plays its role in different eras
with its
developmental progress. The
detail of history of local
government in Pakistan is
given below.
Local government in
Pakistan (1947-54)
Newly established state faced
many difficulties to administer its
system.
But it is not fair to say
that Pakistan was failed to
overcome the situations.
Immediately, it took many steps to
stable its government, not only
national level
but also struggled to overcome the
local issues at city and village
level.
Sindh Local Authority Service Act
1947
Under this Act Sindh government
appointed some authorities on the
key
posts for Municipal Committees
and for some other local bodies.
Baluchistan Municipal Act 1946
Baluchistan introduced this Act
for Municipal Committee Quetta
in 1946,
to regulate the local system of
Baluchistan.
Manifesto of 1948
In 1948, Muslim League’s
manifesto was gave birth a policy,
which is based
on the models of parishes and
communes of United States. “The
spirit gradually
penetrated in to the government’s
policy and its main points were:
i. Adult franchise was introduced
in local bodies.
ii. Nomination of members to
boards and committees was
abolished and
elections were introduced.
iii. The office of the chairman was
made open for election.
iv. A village or group of villages
with the population of not less
than two or
more than ten thousand was to
have a village council”.
[ CITATION Kha \l
1033 ]
N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950
Under this Act, the government of
N.W.F.P was introduced some
changes
in previous local system. The
elections of local bodies were held
on basis of adult
franchise, moreover also
introduced a change in Act that
the Ward-Person were
appointed in Place of elected
members of local government.
Town Improvement Act 1953
This Act was passed by East
Pakistan for the development of
big cities,
like Dacca and Naraingunj.
Later in 1956, Mr. S. D. Khan was
come as an officer of secretariat
group and
re-organized the East Pakistan’s
local system. He organized three
tiers of local
governments.
i. Union boards
ii. District Boards
iii. Municipal Committees or
Town Councils
Village Aid Programme (1954)
In this programme the
administrator was responsible for
five wards of
rural areas. His duties were to
maintain roads and improve health
and educational
departments, etc.
Ayub Era (1958-69)
In 1958, there was imposed
Martial-law in Pakistan by Ayub
Khan. In
1962, as the president he
introduced ‘Basic Democracy’ in
which he created local
bodies under the 80,000 Basic
Democrats.
Principles
‘Basic Democracies’ has two
basic principles, (i) coordination
and (ii) integration.
(i) Coordination
All the local bodies would be
working in coordinative
environment and all
local governments would be
working very close to each other
and look
like one of the whole system.
(ii) Integration
It means the local, central, and
provincial governments would be
working
in cooperative and friendly
environment for the public
welfare and
organized and integrated system.
Structure
The structure of ‘Basic
Democracies consists on four
tiers;
First Tier: the first tier is based on
the following organs;
(i) Union Council for Rural areas
(ii) Union Council for Urban areas
(iii) Town Committee
Second Tier: the second tier is
based on the following organs;
(i) Tehsil Thana council for rural
areas
(ii) Municipal committee for
urban areas
(iii) Cantonment Boards for cantt
areas
Third Tier: the third tier was
consisting on District Council,
which has 50%
official and 50% unofficial
members.
Fourth Tier: the fourth tier
consists on Divisional council.
It has also 50%
official and 50% unofficial
members, who are supervised
by Divisional
commissioners.
Pakistan People’s Party
era (1970-75)
In 1970 elections, PPP came into
power and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has
his
revolutionary manifesto which re-
organized the structure of local
government.
He organized two groups of local
structure.
 Local government for rural
areas
 Local government for urban
areas
Rural Local Government:
consists on Dehi Council, Halqa
Council and Zila
Council.
Urban Local Government: consists
on Town Committee, Municipal
Committee,
and Municipal Corporation.
Pakistan People’s Party was also
introduced a scheme named as
People’s
Work Programme, which was
organized for the welfare of
people and furnished
basic human facilities.
[ CITATION Azi14 \l 1033 ]
During separation of East
Pakistan
1971, the year of heavy loss for
Pakistan, when outbreak of war
between
India and Pakistan, and separation
of East Pakistan. At that time the
system of
government and environment of
country was fully stressed. So,
the system of
local government was also
shattered because of totally
ignored by government
and local bodies. The structure of
local government was destroyed
at rural and
urban level. The administrative
authorities and local bodies were
abolished.
Zia-ul-haq Era (1979-85)
After the decline of Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto, local government was re-
arranged
by Zia-ul-haq. Under his
military regime, he
consolidated the political
centralization at federal level. The
local government introced by Zia-
ul-haq was
different from the system of Ayub
khan. He demolished the
bureaucratic control
and declared ‘Elected House’ as
controlling authority. This is
totally different
from Ayub Kahn’s ‘Basic
Democracies’. He introduced the
Deputy Commissioner
as controlling authority and
executive head of ‘District
Council’.
He introced an autonomous local
council for urban areas, and which
was
the diversion from ‘Basic
Democracies’. The district council
has representatives
for both urban (municipal
committees) and rural (Tehsil
councils) coordination.
Zia-ul-haq introduced the ‘Local
Government Ordinance 1979’,
which is
also known as Sind
Ordinance. Following are the
hierarchical division of
administrators to arrange the local
self-government.[ CITATION
Ali03 \l 1033 ]
Local Government Ordinance,
1979
“In 1979, Zia introduced identical
Ordinances for four Provinces on
the
local government repealing the
previous enactments on the
subject. These were
very elaborate statutes and were
generally welcomed as these
statutes created a
hope amongst the people for
resolution of their daily civil
problems at local level.
The new legislation provided for
civics bodies both for rural and
urban areas with
enhanced fiscal responsibility. The
law also provided the concept of
metropolitan
corporations. The local councils
were empowered to levy taxes and
duties, cause
removal of encroachments and
nuisances as well as to initiate
prosecution of the
delinquents. The new
legislation certainly empowered
the local government
institutions to manage their
own affairs, particularly in
matters relating to
previsions of civics services. It
was considered that the new laws
undoubtedly had
taken positive steps towards
devolution of powers to the lower
tiers of democratic
institutions. Elections were
also held in all the
Provinces under the new
Ordinances, but these statutes
were strongly criticized for
having too much
official interference in the affairs
of the civics bodies.”[
CITATION DTC14 \l
1033 ]
The division of the local
governments under Zia regime is
based on four tiers.
1. Town Committee
2. Municipal Committee
3. Municipal Corporation
4. Metropolitan Corporation
To deal with rapid and lower
level issues, introced
‘Panchayat’ system.
Panchayat was actively did its
duties. Society was represented
including women,
laborers, farmers and minorities.
These were elected by concerned
council, while
the minorities had their separate
electorates.
Musharraf Era (Devolution
Plan)
In 1999, once again the military
regime immediately took over the
control in
its hand. General Pervez
Musharraf came with his ‘seven
point agenda’. This
agenda has the following points:
1. Re-building the national
confidence and morale
2. Strengthening the federation,
while removing inter-provincial
disharmony
3. Reviving and ensuring investor
confidence
4. Ensuring law and order and
dispensing speedy justice
5. De-politicizing state institutions
6. Devolving power to grass-root
level
7. Ensuring swift and across the
board accountability
National Reconstruction Bureau
(NRB)
National Reconstruction Bureau
(NRB) is constructed the
devolution plan, which
has ‘5Ds’ model. The 5Ds model
explains below:
D means devolution of political
power: It has three tiers,
mission, vision, and
goals. Power devolved these three
tiers.
D means decentralization of
administrative authority: The
District level
departments were decentralized by
operational autonomy.
D means de-concentration of
management function: An
approach would be
focused on meritocracy,
performance based appraisal
system, specialized versus
generalization, recognition and
reward.
D means distribution of
resources to the districts:
Taxes and incur the
expenditures were raised by
district government.
D means diffusion of power-
authority nexus: It is monitored
by civilians and
elected bodies and civil society
involvement in developmental
work for effective
check and balance.
According to Plan, “the system
is designed to ensure that the
genuine
interests of the people are served
and their rights are safeguarded
through an
enabling environment, people’s
participation, clear administrative
responsibilities
without political interference and
making it answerable to the
elected head of the
districted. At the same time it
promises checks and balance to
safeguard against
abuse of authority”.[ CITATION
DrS1 \l 1033 ]
Nawaz Sharif Era (recent
government)
Punjab Local Government Act,
2013
Under the Act, the lowest tier
of the local government is
the Union
Councils, both for the rural and
urban areas. Each Union Council
would have one
Chairman and one Vice Chairman.
All Chairmen of the rural Union
Councils shall be the members of
the District
Council along with the
following members indirectly
elected on the reserved
seats:-
(i) such number of women
members, not exceeding five, as
the Provincial
Government may notify on the
basis of number of Union
Councils in
the District Council;
(ii) such number of peasant
members, not exceeding three,
as the
Government may notify on the
basis of number of Union
Councils in
the District Council;
(iii) one technocrat member;
(iv) One youth member; and
(iv) Such non-Muslim members,
not exceeding five, as the
Government
may notify for each District
Council.
The members of the Municipal
Committees would be elected their
Chairmen
and Vice Chairmen as joint
candidates from amongst
themselves, by majority
votes of the members present and
voting.
a. such number of women
members, not exceeding five,
as the
Government may notify on the
basis of number of wards in the
Municipal Committee;
b. such number of worker
members, not exceeding two, as
the
c. Government may notify on
the basis of number of wards in
the
Municipal Committee;
d. one youth member; and
e. such number of non-Muslim
members, not exceeding three, as
the
Government may notify for each
Municipal Committee.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local
Government Act, 2013
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local
Government Act, 2013, contains
quite a
few provisions on the lines of
2001 Ordinance relating to
decentralization of
several Provincial administrative
offices, in particular Health and
Education, to
the elected representatives of the
local governments. The Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
Local Government Act, 2012,
which is based on 1979
Ordinance, is still in force.
Even otherwise, no efforts for
holding local government
elections are in sight.
Nor in this regard, any tentative
date for such elections has been
indicated.
Conclusion
The local governments system of
Pakistan is developed step by step
and
passed through many phases. At
the time of early independence,
Pakistan faced
many difficulties to overcome
the week structure of the
state. In that days,
administration of state was
survived through some short and
temporary policies or
acts.
In 1959, Ayub Khan took over the
power and first time he organized
the
local government as a regular
authority. He introduced ‘Basic
democracy’ in
which describes the local structure
for local bodies. After him,
Pakistan People’s
Party came into power by winning
elections, and introduced some
new reforms to
improve local government. But,
in 1971, India attack on Pakistan
and war was
out-break, and Pakistan faced a
heavy loss, and also lost East
Pakistan.
So, in 1977, Zia-ul-haq imposed
third martial-law and became
president.
Once again, he was re-
energized and re-organized the
local government, and
introduced the ‘Local Government
Ordinance’.
Later Musharraf came into
power with his seven-point
agenda. He
introduced the 5Ds model for
re-construct the local
government. The recent
government was also
improved the local
government with its new
plans and
reforms.
Bibliography
Aziz, F. (2014, November). World
Times. Retrieved from Jahangir's
World Times:
http://jworldtimes.com/jwt2015/mag
azine-
Local Governance in
Pakistan
Historical Review (1947-2018)
Abstract
“Management of local affairs
by local representatives is called
local self-
government”.
Local government of a state is an
administrative body which plays
its role
at rural and urban areas. It deals
with the issues on grass-root level.
It is based on
district, divisional and municipal
level committees or councils.
After independence, Pakistan
struggled for maintain a strong
structure of
central, provincial and local
governments. It was time to time
and step by step
development in local
governments.
Many different acts was passed for
organizing the local governments,
like
Sindh Local Authority Service
Act 1947, Baluchistan
Municipal Act 1946,
N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950,
Town Improvement Act 1953,
Village Aid
Programme (1954).
In 1959, Ayub Khan took over the
power and first time he organized
the
local government as a regular
authority. He introduced ‘Basic
democracy’ in
which describes the local structure
for local bodies. Next to him, PPP
came into
power and improve local
government. But, the war of 1971
destroyed the system.
Later Zia was re-organized
the local government and
introduced the ‘Local
Government Ordinance’.
Musharraf also introduced 5Ds
model for local
government. The recent
government was also reform the
local government and
introduced the KPK Act 2013 and
Punjab local government Act
2013.
Introduction
Central government and
provincial governments have
their own broad
goals and targets to achieve in the
light of their given powers.
Because of their
heavy duties, they have no
required knowledge to manage the
local issues and not
able to deal with grass-root level.
Therefore, there is need to an
authority to deal
with these issues, formed local
government. Local self-
government refers to
manage the local affairs; like
villages or towns by elected local
representatives.
“SIDGWICK, says that the term
local government means the
organs, which
though completely subordinate
to the central legislature, are
independence of
central executive in
appointment and to some
extent in their decisions and
exercise a partially
independent control over
certain parts of public
finance.”
(Khan)
As Maciver says, local
government plays three types of
functions to fulfill its
goals. First, to develop
standards of community and
to enhance national
importance, this is belonged to
central government. Second, to
fulfill the needs of
community and to improve their
universal character, this is related
to provincial
governments. Third, some
functions to improve local issues
of society concerns,
like streets, transports and sanitary
etc.
After the partition of sub-
continent, as becoming newly
independence
state Pakistan inherited the interim
constitution by amending the India
Act 1935.
In light of Indian Act of
1935, Provinces were
responsible for the local
governments, and the
responsibility of Cantonment
boards of cantt areas was
given to the central government.
This condition was continued till
1958, before
the first Martial-law enforced in
Pakistan.
In 1958, after the enforcement of
Martial-law, General Ayub Khan
was
introduced the ‘Basic
Democracy’, which is at the
door steps of the people.
During the period of 1972-75,
when East Pakistan separated
from West Pakistan,
the urban local governments
was effected badly and
ignored by government
because of disturbed authorities.
In 1977, Zia-ul-haq enforced
Martial law again and re-
energized the local
government’s policy. He
introduced the ‘Local Government
Ordinance of 1979’,
which provide the four-tier
structure for urban areas and
two-tier structure for
rural areas. During the period of
1988-99 many different
authoritative figures
implemented the local government
system in accordance to its
needed. And then,
in 1999 martial-law was again
enforced by General Pervez
Musharraf and he was
immediately introduced the seven-
point agenda and later in 2000his
government
introced the ‘Devolution of
Power Plan’ for local
governments. The recent
government of PML’N also
worked for local self-government,
and was introduced
the ‘Local Governments Act of
2013’ and ‘Sindh Local
Government Act 2013’.
Keywords: Local Government,
Early Independence Acts, Ayub
era, Zia era,
Musharraf era, Recent
Government
Structure of Local
Government
Local government is a body,
which is a form of public
administration,
active for a small and specific
geographic area, like city, town or
village. It works
like national government, but only
on a smaller scale. There is no
country, which
have not its local government. In
some countries the term is used
‘Municipal
government’ for local
government. But in Pakistan it
is known as ‘District
government system’. There are
two types of local government.
1-Loacal Government: It is served
by appointed bureaucrats.
2-Local Self-Government: It is
served by elected representatives.
[ CITATION
Bhu16 \l 1033 ]
Structure of local government in
Pakistan;
Figure.1[ CITATION Was16 \l
1033 ]
In Pakistan, local government
plays its role in different eras
with its
developmental progress. The
detail of history of local
government in Pakistan is
given below.
Local government in
Pakistan (1947-54)
Newly established state faced
many difficulties to administer its
system.
But it is not fair to say
that Pakistan was failed to
overcome the situations.
Immediately, it took many steps to
stable its government, not only
national level
but also struggled to overcome the
local issues at city and village
level.
Sindh Local Authority Service Act
1947
Under this Act Sindh government
appointed some authorities on the
key
posts for Municipal Committees
and for some other local bodies.
Baluchistan Municipal Act 1946
Baluchistan introduced this Act
for Municipal Committee Quetta
in 1946,
to regulate the local system of
Baluchistan.
Manifesto of 1948
In 1948, Muslim League’s
manifesto was gave birth a policy,
which is based
on the models of parishes and
communes of United States. “The
spirit gradually
penetrated in to the government’s
policy and its main points were:
i. Adult franchise was introduced
in local bodies.
ii. Nomination of members to
boards and committees was
abolished and
elections were introduced.
iii. The office of the chairman was
made open for election.
iv. A village or group of villages
with the population of not less
than two or
more than ten thousand was to
have a village council”.
[ CITATION Kha \l
1033 ]
N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950
Under this Act, the government of
N.W.F.P was introduced some
changes
in previous local system. The
elections of local bodies were held
on basis of adult
franchise, moreover also
introduced a change in Act that
the Ward-Person were
appointed in Place of elected
members of local government.
Town Improvement Act 1953
This Act was passed by East
Pakistan for the development of
big cities,
like Dacca and Naraingunj.
Later in 1956, Mr. S. D. Khan was
come as an officer of secretariat
group and
re-organized the East Pakistan’s
local system. He organized three
tiers of local
governments.
i. Union boards
ii. District Boards
iii. Municipal Committees or
Town Councils
Village Aid Programme (1954)
In this programme the
administrator was responsible for
five wards of
rural areas. His duties were to
maintain roads and improve health
and educational
departments, etc.
Ayub Era (1958-69)
In 1958, there was imposed
Martial-law in Pakistan by Ayub
Khan. In
1962, as the president he
introduced ‘Basic Democracy’ in
which he created local
bodies under the 80,000 Basic
Democrats.
Principles
‘Basic Democracies’ has two
basic principles, (i) coordination
and (ii) integration.
(i) Coordination
All the local bodies would be
working in coordinative
environment and all
local governments would be
working very close to each other
and look
like one of the whole system.
(ii) Integration
It means the local, central, and
provincial governments would be
working
in cooperative and friendly
environment for the public
welfare and
organized and integrated system.
Structure
The structure of ‘Basic
Democracies consists on four
tiers;
First Tier: the first tier is based on
the following organs;
(i) Union Council for Rural areas
(ii) Union Council for Urban areas
(iii) Town Committee
Second Tier: the second tier is
based on the following organs;
(i) Tehsil Thana council for rural
areas
(ii) Municipal committee for
urban areas
(iii) Cantonment Boards for cantt
areas
Third Tier: the third tier was
consisting on District Council,
which has 50%
official and 50% unofficial
members.
Fourth Tier: the fourth tier
consists on Divisional council.
It has also 50%
official and 50% unofficial
members, who are supervised
by Divisional
commissioners.
Pakistan People’s Party
era (1970-75)
In 1970 elections, PPP came into
power and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has
his
revolutionary manifesto which re-
organized the structure of local
government.
He organized two groups of local
structure.
 Local government for rural
areas
 Local government for urban
areas
Rural Local Government:
consists on Dehi Council, Halqa
Council and Zila
Council.
Urban Local Government: consists
on Town Committee, Municipal
Committee,
and Municipal Corporation.
Pakistan People’s Party was also
introduced a scheme named as
People’s
Work Programme, which was
organized for the welfare of
people and furnished
basic human facilities.
[ CITATION Azi14 \l 1033 ]
During separation of East
Pakistan
1971, the year of heavy loss for
Pakistan, when outbreak of war
between
India and Pakistan, and separation
of East Pakistan. At that time the
system of
government and environment of
country was fully stressed. So,
the system of
local government was also
shattered because of totally
ignored by government
and local bodies. The structure of
local government was destroyed
at rural and
urban level. The administrative
authorities and local bodies were
abolished.
Zia-ul-haq Era (1979-85)
After the decline of Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto, local government was re-
arranged
by Zia-ul-haq. Under his
military regime, he
consolidated the political
centralization at federal level. The
local government introced by Zia-
ul-haq was
different from the system of Ayub
khan. He demolished the
bureaucratic control
and declared ‘Elected House’ as
controlling authority. This is
totally different
from Ayub Kahn’s ‘Basic
Democracies’. He introduced the
Deputy Commissioner
as controlling authority and
executive head of ‘District
Council’.
He introced an autonomous local
council for urban areas, and which
was
the diversion from ‘Basic
Democracies’. The district council
has representatives
for both urban (municipal
committees) and rural (Tehsil
councils) coordination.
Zia-ul-haq introduced the ‘Local
Government Ordinance 1979’,
which is
also known as Sind
Ordinance. Following are the
hierarchical division of
administrators to arrange the local
self-government.[ CITATION
Ali03 \l 1033 ]
Local Government Ordinance,
1979
“In 1979, Zia introduced identical
Ordinances for four Provinces on
the
local government repealing the
previous enactments on the
subject. These were
very elaborate statutes and were
generally welcomed as these
statutes created a
hope amongst the people for
resolution of their daily civil
problems at local level.
The new legislation provided for
civics bodies both for rural and
urban areas with
enhanced fiscal responsibility. The
law also provided the concept of
metropolitan
corporations. The local councils
were empowered to levy taxes and
duties, cause
removal of encroachments and
nuisances as well as to initiate
prosecution of the
delinquents. The new
legislation certainly empowered
the local government
institutions to manage their
own affairs, particularly in
matters relating to
previsions of civics services. It
was considered that the new laws
undoubtedly had
taken positive steps towards
devolution of powers to the lower
tiers of democratic
institutions. Elections were
also held in all the
Provinces under the new
Ordinances, but these statutes
were strongly criticized for
having too much
official interference in the affairs
of the civics bodies.”[
CITATION DTC14 \l
1033 ]
The division of the local
governments under Zia regime is
based on four tiers.
1. Town Committee
2. Municipal Committee
3. Municipal Corporation
4. Metropolitan Corporation
To deal with rapid and lower
level issues, introced
‘Panchayat’ system.
Panchayat was actively did its
duties. Society was represented
including women,
laborers, farmers and minorities.
These were elected by concerned
council, while
the minorities had their separate
electorates.
Musharraf Era (Devolution
Plan)
In 1999, once again the military
regime immediately took over the
control in
its hand. General Pervez
Musharraf came with his ‘seven
point agenda’. This
agenda has the following points:
1. Re-building the national
confidence and morale
2. Strengthening the federation,
while removing inter-provincial
disharmony
3. Reviving and ensuring investor
confidence
4. Ensuring law and order and
dispensing speedy justice
5. De-politicizing state institutions
6. Devolving power to grass-root
level
7. Ensuring swift and across the
board accountability
National Reconstruction Bureau
(NRB)
National Reconstruction Bureau
(NRB) is constructed the
devolution plan, which
has ‘5Ds’ model. The 5Ds model
explains below:
D means devolution of political
power: It has three tiers,
mission, vision, and
goals. Power devolved these three
tiers.
D means decentralization of
administrative authority: The
District level
departments were decentralized by
operational autonomy.
D means de-concentration of
management function: An
approach would be
focused on meritocracy,
performance based appraisal
system, specialized versus
generalization, recognition and
reward.
D means distribution of
resources to the districts:
Taxes and incur the
expenditures were raised by
district government.
D means diffusion of power-
authority nexus: It is monitored
by civilians and
elected bodies and civil society
involvement in developmental
work for effective
check and balance.
According to Plan, “the system
is designed to ensure that the
genuine
interests of the people are served
and their rights are safeguarded
through an
enabling environment, people’s
participation, clear administrative
responsibilities
without political interference and
making it answerable to the
elected head of the
districted. At the same time it
promises checks and balance to
safeguard against
abuse of authority”.[ CITATION
DrS1 \l 1033 ]
Nawaz Sharif Era (recent
government)
Punjab Local Government Act,
2013
Under the Act, the lowest tier
of the local government is
the Union
Councils, both for the rural and
urban areas. Each Union Council
would have one
Chairman and one Vice Chairman.
All Chairmen of the rural Union
Councils shall be the members of
the District
Council along with the
following members indirectly
elected on the reserved
seats:-
(i) such number of women
members, not exceeding five, as
the Provincial
Government may notify on the
basis of number of Union
Councils in
the District Council;
(ii) such number of peasant
members, not exceeding three,
as the
Government may notify on the
basis of number of Union
Councils in
the District Council;
(iii) one technocrat member;
(iv) One youth member; and
(iv) Such non-Muslim members,
not exceeding five, as the
Government
may notify for each District
Council.
The members of the Municipal
Committees would be elected their
Chairmen
and Vice Chairmen as joint
candidates from amongst
themselves, by majority
votes of the members present and
voting.
a. such number of women
members, not exceeding five,
as the
Government may notify on the
basis of number of wards in the
Municipal Committee;
b. such number of worker
members, not exceeding two, as
the
c. Government may notify on
the basis of number of wards in
the
Municipal Committee;
d. one youth member; and
e. such number of non-Muslim
members, not exceeding three, as
the
Government may notify for each
Municipal Committee.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local
Government Act, 2013
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local
Government Act, 2013, contains
quite a
few provisions on the lines of
2001 Ordinance relating to
decentralization of
several Provincial administrative
offices, in particular Health and
Education, to
the elected representatives of the
local governments. The Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
Local Government Act, 2012,
which is based on 1979
Ordinance, is still in force.
Even otherwise, no efforts for
holding local government
elections are in sight.
Nor in this regard, any tentative
date for such elections has been
indicated.
Conclusion
The local governments system of
Pakistan is developed step by step
and
passed through many phases. At
the time of early independence,
Pakistan faced
many difficulties to overcome
the week structure of the
state. In that days,
administration of state was
survived through some short and
temporary policies or
acts.
In 1959, Ayub Khan took over the
power and first time he organized
the
local government as a regular
authority. He introduced ‘Basic
democracy’ in
which describes the local structure
for local bodies. After him,
Pakistan People’s
Party came into power by winning
elections, and introduced some
new reforms to
improve local government. But,
in 1971, India attack on Pakistan
and war was
out-break, and Pakistan faced a
heavy loss, and also lost East
Pakistan.
So, in 1977, Zia-ul-haq imposed
third martial-law and became
president.
Once again, he was re-
energized and re-organized the
local government, and
introduced the ‘Local Government
Ordinance’.
Later Musharraf came into
power with his seven-point
agenda. He
introduced the 5Ds model for
re-construct the local
government. The recent
government was also
improved the local
government with its new
plans and
reforms.
Bibliography
Aziz, F. (2014, November). World
Times. Retrieved from Jahangir's
World Times:
http://jworldtimes.com/jwt2015/mag
azine-
Local Governance in
Pakistan
Historical Review (1947-2018)
Abstract
“Management of local affairs
by local representatives is called
local self-
government”.
Local government of a state is an
administrative body which plays
its role
at rural and urban areas. It deals
with the issues on grass-root level.
It is based on
district, divisional and municipal
level committees or councils.
After independence, Pakistan
struggled for maintain a strong
structure of
central, provincial and local
governments. It was time to time
and step by step
development in local
governments.
Many different acts was passed for
organizing the local governments,
like
Sindh Local Authority Service
Act 1947, Baluchistan
Municipal Act 1946,
N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950,
Town Improvement Act 1953,
Village Aid
Programme (1954).
In 1959, Ayub Khan took over the
power and first time he organized
the
local government as a regular
authority. He introduced ‘Basic
democracy’ in
which describes the local structure
for local bodies. Next to him, PPP
came into
power and improve local
government. But, the war of 1971
destroyed the system.
Later Zia was re-organized
the local government and
introduced the ‘Local
Government Ordinance’.
Musharraf also introduced 5Ds
model for local
government. The recent
government was also reform the
local government and
introduced the KPK Act 2013 and
Punjab local government Act
2013.
Introduction
Central government and
provincial governments have
their own broad
goals and targets to achieve in the
light of their given powers.
Because of their
heavy duties, they have no
required knowledge to manage the
local issues and not
able to deal with grass-root level.
Therefore, there is need to an
authority to deal
with these issues, formed local
government. Local self-
government refers to
manage the local affairs; like
villages or towns by elected local
representatives.
“SIDGWICK, says that the term
local government means the
organs, which
though completely subordinate
to the central legislature, are
independence of
central executive in
appointment and to some
extent in their decisions and
exercise a partially
independent control over
certain parts of public
finance.”
(Khan)
As Maciver says, local
government plays three types of
functions to fulfill its
goals. First, to develop
standards of community and
to enhance national
importance, this is belonged to
central government. Second, to
fulfill the needs of
community and to improve their
universal character, this is related
to provincial
governments. Third, some
functions to improve local issues
of society concerns,
like streets, transports and sanitary
etc.
After the partition of sub-
continent, as becoming newly
independence
state Pakistan inherited the interim
constitution by amending the India
Act 1935.
In light of Indian Act of
1935, Provinces were
responsible for the local
governments, and the
responsibility of Cantonment
boards of cantt areas was
given to the central government.
This condition was continued till
1958, before
the first Martial-law enforced in
Pakistan.
In 1958, after the enforcement of
Martial-law, General Ayub Khan
was
introduced the ‘Basic
Democracy’, which is at the
door steps of the people.
During the period of 1972-75,
when East Pakistan separated
from West Pakistan,
the urban local governments
was effected badly and
ignored by government
because of disturbed authorities.
In 1977, Zia-ul-haq enforced
Martial law again and re-
energized the local
government’s policy. He
introduced the ‘Local Government
Ordinance of 1979’,
which provide the four-tier
structure for urban areas and
two-tier structure for
rural areas. During the period of
1988-99 many different
authoritative figures
implemented the local government
system in accordance to its
needed. And then,
in 1999 martial-law was again
enforced by General Pervez
Musharraf and he was
immediately introduced the seven-
point agenda and later in 2000his
government
introced the ‘Devolution of
Power Plan’ for local
governments. The recent
government of PML’N also
worked for local self-government,
and was introduced
the ‘Local Governments Act of
2013’ and ‘Sindh Local
Government Act 2013’.
Keywords: Local Government,
Early Independence Acts, Ayub
era, Zia era,
Musharraf era, Recent
Government
Structure of Local
Government
Local government is a body,
which is a form of public
administration,
active for a small and specific
geographic area, like city, town or
village. It works
like national government, but only
on a smaller scale. There is no
country, which
have not its local government. In
some countries the term is used
‘Municipal
government’ for local
government. But in Pakistan it
is known as ‘District
government system’. There are
two types of local government.
1-Loacal Government: It is served
by appointed bureaucrats.
2-Local Self-Government: It is
served by elected representatives.
[ CITATION
Bhu16 \l 1033 ]
Structure of local government in
Pakistan;
Figure.1[ CITATION Was16 \l
1033 ]
In Pakistan, local government
plays its role in different eras
with its
developmental progress. The
detail of history of local
government in Pakistan is
given below.
Local government in
Pakistan (1947-54)
Newly established state faced
many difficulties to administer its
system.
But it is not fair to say
that Pakistan was failed to
overcome the situations.
Immediately, it took many steps to
stable its government, not only
national level
but also struggled to overcome the
local issues at city and village
level.
Sindh Local Authority Service Act
1947
Under this Act Sindh government
appointed some authorities on the
key
posts for Municipal Committees
and for some other local bodies.
Baluchistan Municipal Act 1946
Baluchistan introduced this Act
for Municipal Committee Quetta
in 1946,
to regulate the local system of
Baluchistan.
Manifesto of 1948
In 1948, Muslim League’s
manifesto was gave birth a policy,
which is based
on the models of parishes and
communes of United States. “The
spirit gradually
penetrated in to the government’s
policy and its main points were:
i. Adult franchise was introduced
in local bodies.
ii. Nomination of members to
boards and committees was
abolished and
elections were introduced.
iii. The office of the chairman was
made open for election.
iv. A village or group of villages
with the population of not less
than two or
more than ten thousand was to
have a village council”.
[ CITATION Kha \l
1033 ]
N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950
Under this Act, the government of
N.W.F.P was introduced some
changes
in previous local system. The
elections of local bodies were held
on basis of adult
franchise, moreover also
introduced a change in Act that
the Ward-Person were
appointed in Place of elected
members of local government.
Town Improvement Act 1953
This Act was passed by East
Pakistan for the development of
big cities,
like Dacca and Naraingunj.
Later in 1956, Mr. S. D. Khan was
come as an officer of secretariat
group and
re-organized the East Pakistan’s
local system. He organized three
tiers of local
governments.
i. Union boards
ii. District Boards
iii. Municipal Committees or
Town Councils
Village Aid Programme (1954)
In this programme the
administrator was responsible for
five wards of
rural areas. His duties were to
maintain roads and improve health
and educational
departments, etc.
Ayub Era (1958-69)
In 1958, there was imposed
Martial-law in Pakistan by Ayub
Khan. In
1962, as the president he
introduced ‘Basic Democracy’ in
which he created local
bodies under the 80,000 Basic
Democrats.
Principles
‘Basic Democracies’ has two
basic principles, (i) coordination
and (ii) integration.
(i) Coordination
All the local bodies would be
working in coordinative
environment and all
local governments would be
working very close to each other
and look
like one of the whole system.
(ii) Integration
It means the local, central, and
provincial governments would be
working
in cooperative and friendly
environment for the public
welfare and
organized and integrated system.
Structure
The structure of ‘Basic
Democracies consists on four
tiers;
First Tier: the first tier is based on
the following organs;
(i) Union Council for Rural areas
(ii) Union Council for Urban areas
(iii) Town Committee
Second Tier: the second tier is
based on the following organs;
(i) Tehsil Thana council for rural
areas
(ii) Municipal committee for
urban areas
(iii) Cantonment Boards for cantt
areas
Third Tier: the third tier was
consisting on District Council,
which has 50%
official and 50% unofficial
members.
Fourth Tier: the fourth tier
consists on Divisional council.
It has also 50%
official and 50% unofficial
members, who are supervised
by Divisional
commissioners.
Pakistan People’s Party
era (1970-75)
In 1970 elections, PPP came into
power and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has
his
revolutionary manifesto which re-
organized the structure of local
government.
He organized two groups of local
structure.
 Local government for rural
areas
 Local government for urban
areas
Rural Local Government:
consists on Dehi Council, Halqa
Council and Zila
Council.
Urban Local Government: consists
on Town Committee, Municipal
Committee,
and Municipal Corporation.
Pakistan People’s Party was also
introduced a scheme named as
People’s
Work Programme, which was
organized for the welfare of
people and furnished
basic human facilities.
[ CITATION Azi14 \l 1033 ]
During separation of East
Pakistan
1971, the year of heavy loss for
Pakistan, when outbreak of war
between
India and Pakistan, and separation
of East Pakistan. At that time the
system of
government and environment of
country was fully stressed. So,
the system of
local government was also
shattered because of totally
ignored by government
and local bodies. The structure of
local government was destroyed
at rural and
urban level. The administrative
authorities and local bodies were
abolished.
Zia-ul-haq Era (1979-85)
After the decline of Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto, local government was re-
arranged
by Zia-ul-haq. Under his
military regime, he
consolidated the political
centralization at federal level. The
local government introced by Zia-
ul-haq was
different from the system of Ayub
khan. He demolished the
bureaucratic control
and declared ‘Elected House’ as
controlling authority. This is
totally different
from Ayub Kahn’s ‘Basic
Democracies’. He introduced the
Deputy Commissioner
as controlling authority and
executive head of ‘District
Council’.
He introced an autonomous local
council for urban areas, and which
was
the diversion from ‘Basic
Democracies’. The district council
has representatives
for both urban (municipal
committees) and rural (Tehsil
councils) coordination.
Zia-ul-haq introduced the ‘Local
Government Ordinance 1979’,
which is
also known as Sind
Ordinance. Following are the
hierarchical division of
administrators to arrange the local
self-government.[ CITATION
Ali03 \l 1033 ]
Local Government Ordinance,
1979
“In 1979, Zia introduced identical
Ordinances for four Provinces on
the
local government repealing the
previous enactments on the
subject. These were
very elaborate statutes and were
generally welcomed as these
statutes created a
hope amongst the people for
resolution of their daily civil
problems at local level.
The new legislation provided for
civics bodies both for rural and
urban areas with
enhanced fiscal responsibility. The
law also provided the concept of
metropolitan
corporations. The local councils
were empowered to levy taxes and
duties, cause
removal of encroachments and
nuisances as well as to initiate
prosecution of the
delinquents. The new
legislation certainly empowered
the local government
institutions to manage their
own affairs, particularly in
matters relating to
previsions of civics services. It
was considered that the new laws
undoubtedly had
taken positive steps towards
devolution of powers to the lower
tiers of democratic
institutions. Elections were
also held in all the
Provinces under the new
Ordinances, but these statutes
were strongly criticized for
having too much
official interference in the affairs
of the civics bodies.”[
CITATION DTC14 \l
1033 ]
The division of the local
governments under Zia regime is
based on four tiers.
1. Town Committee
2. Municipal Committee
3. Municipal Corporation
4. Metropolitan Corporation
To deal with rapid and lower
level issues, introced
‘Panchayat’ system.
Panchayat was actively did its
duties. Society was represented
including women,
laborers, farmers and minorities.
These were elected by concerned
council, while
the minorities had their separate
electorates.
Musharraf Era (Devolution
Plan)
In 1999, once again the military
regime immediately took over the
control in
its hand. General Pervez
Musharraf came with his ‘seven
point agenda’. This
agenda has the following points:
1. Re-building the national
confidence and morale
2. Strengthening the federation,
while removing inter-provincial
disharmony
3. Reviving and ensuring investor
confidence
4. Ensuring law and order and
dispensing speedy justice
5. De-politicizing state institutions
6. Devolving power to grass-root
level
7. Ensuring swift and across the
board accountability
National Reconstruction Bureau
(NRB)
National Reconstruction Bureau
(NRB) is constructed the
devolution plan, which
has ‘5Ds’ model. The 5Ds model
explains below:
D means devolution of political
power: It has three tiers,
mission, vision, and
goals. Power devolved these three
tiers.
D means decentralization of
administrative authority: The
District level
departments were decentralized by
operational autonomy.
D means de-concentration of
management function: An
approach would be
focused on meritocracy,
performance based appraisal
system, specialized versus
generalization, recognition and
reward.
D means distribution of
resources to the districts:
Taxes and incur the
expenditures were raised by
district government.
D means diffusion of power-
authority nexus: It is monitored
by civilians and
elected bodies and civil society
involvement in developmental
work for effective
check and balance.
According to Plan, “the system
is designed to ensure that the
genuine
interests of the people are served
and their rights are safeguarded
through an
enabling environment, people’s
participation, clear administrative
responsibilities
without political interference and
making it answerable to the
elected head of the
districted. At the same time it
promises checks and balance to
safeguard against
abuse of authority”.[ CITATION
DrS1 \l 1033 ]
Nawaz Sharif Era (recent
government)
Punjab Local Government Act,
2013
Under the Act, the lowest tier
of the local government is
the Union
Councils, both for the rural and
urban areas. Each Union Council
would have one
Chairman and one Vice Chairman.
All Chairmen of the rural Union
Councils shall be the members of
the District
Council along with the
following members indirectly
elected on the reserved
seats:-
(i) such number of women
members, not exceeding five, as
the Provincial
Government may notify on the
basis of number of Union
Councils in
the District Council;
(ii) such number of peasant
members, not exceeding three,
as the
Government may notify on the
basis of number of Union
Councils in
the District Council;
(iii) one technocrat member;
(iv) One youth member; and
(iv) Such non-Muslim members,
not exceeding five, as the
Government
may notify for each District
Council.
The members of the Municipal
Committees would be elected their
Chairmen
and Vice Chairmen as joint
candidates from amongst
themselves, by majority
votes of the members present and
voting.
a. such number of women
members, not exceeding five,
as the
Government may notify on the
basis of number of wards in the
Municipal Committee;
b. such number of worker
members, not exceeding two, as
the
c. Government may notify on
the basis of number of wards in
the
Municipal Committee;
d. one youth member; and
e. such number of non-Muslim
members, not exceeding three, as
the
Government may notify for each
Municipal Committee.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local
Government Act, 2013
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local
Government Act, 2013, contains
quite a
few provisions on the lines of
2001 Ordinance relating to
decentralization of
several Provincial administrative
offices, in particular Health and
Education, to
the elected representatives of the
local governments. The Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
Local Government Act, 2012,
which is based on 1979
Ordinance, is still in force.
Even otherwise, no efforts for
holding local government
elections are in sight.
Nor in this regard, any tentative
date for such elections has been
indicated.
Conclusion
The local governments system of
Pakistan is developed step by step
and
passed through many phases. At
the time of early independence,
Pakistan faced
many difficulties to overcome
the week structure of the
state. In that days,
administration of state was
survived through some short and
temporary policies or
acts.
In 1959, Ayub Khan took over the
power and first time he organized
the
local government as a regular
authority. He introduced ‘Basic
democracy’ in
which describes the local structure
for local bodies. After him,
Pakistan People’s
Party came into power by winning
elections, and introduced some
new reforms to
improve local government. But,
in 1971, India attack on Pakistan
and war was
out-break, and Pakistan faced a
heavy loss, and also lost East
Pakistan.
So, in 1977, Zia-ul-haq imposed
third martial-law and became
president.
Once again, he was re-
energized and re-organized the
local government, and
introduced the ‘Local Government
Ordinance’.
Later Musharraf came into
power with his seven-point
agenda. He
introduced the 5Ds model for
re-construct the local
government. The recent
government was also
improved the local
government with its new
plans and
reforms.
Bibliography
Aziz, F. (2014, November). World
Times. Retrieved from Jahangir's
World Times:
http://jworldtimes.com/jwt2015/mag
azine-
Local Governance in
Pakistan
Historical Review (1947-2018)
Abstract
“Management of local affairs
by local representatives is called
local self-
government”.
Local government of a state is an
administrative body which plays
its role
at rural and urban areas. It deals
with the issues on grass-root level.
It is based on
district, divisional and municipal
level committees or councils.
After independence, Pakistan
struggled for maintain a strong
structure of
central, provincial and local
governments. It was time to time
and step by step
development in local
governments.
Many different acts was passed for
organizing the local governments,
like
Sindh Local Authority Service
Act 1947, Baluchistan
Municipal Act 1946,
N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950,
Town Improvement Act 1953,
Village Aid
Programme (1954).
In 1959, Ayub Khan took over the
power and first time he organized
the
local government as a regular
authority. He introduced ‘Basic
democracy’ in
which describes the local structure
for local bodies. Next to him, PPP
came into
power and improve local
government. But, the war of 1971
destroyed the system.
Later Zia was re-organized
the local government and
introduced the ‘Local
Government Ordinance’.
Musharraf also introduced 5Ds
model for local
government. The recent
government was also reform the
local government and
introduced the KPK Act 2013 and
Punjab local government ALocal Self
Government in Pakistan (1947-2020)

Assignment
History of local Government in Pakistan
By

Abdul Bari

Roll No. (21013)

Submitted to: Major Khaleel Ahmed

BS Pakistan Studies

5th semester

Department of Pakistan Studies

National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Definition
3. Structure of Local Government
4. Structure of Local Self Government in Pakistan;
5. Local Self Government in Pakistan (1947-54)
a. Sindh Local Authority Service Act 1947
b. Baluchistan Municipal Act 1947
c. Muslim League’s Manifesto of 1948: the US Models
d. N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950
e. Town Improvement Act 1953
f. Village Aid Programme (1954)
6. Gen Ayub Khan’s Basic Democrats (1958-69)
7. Local Self Government during PPP’s Era (1970-76)
8. Local self Government during Gen Zia-ul-Haq Era (1977-88)
9. Local Self Government during PPP & MLN’s Era (1989-1998)
10.Local Self Government during Mushraf Period (!999-2007)
11. Local Self Government during MLN,PPP& PTI’s Era (2008-2020)
12.Analysis
13.Conclusion
14.References
Introduction:

“Management of local affairs by local representatives is called Local Self-Government”.

Local government of a state is an administrative body which plays its role at rural and urban
areas. It deals with the issues on grass-root level. It is based on district, divisional and municipal
level committees or councils.

Central government and provincial governments have their own broad goals and targets to
achieve in the light of their given powers. Because of their heavy duties, they have no required
knowledge to manage the local issues and not able to deal with grass-root level. Therefore, there
is need to an authority to deal with these issues, formed local government. Local self-government
refers to manage the local affairs; like villages or towns by elected local representatives.

The term local government means the organs, which though completely subordinate to the
central legislature, are independence of central executive in appointment and to some extent in
their decisions and exercise a partially independent control over certain parts of public finance.
Local government plays Three Types of Functions to fulfill its goals.

First, to develop standards of community and to enhance national importance, this is belonged to
central government.

Second, to fulfill the needs of community and to improve their universal character, this is related
to provincial governments.

Third, some functions to improve local issues of society concerns, like streets, transports and
sanitary etc.

After the partition of sub-continent, as becoming newly independence state Pakistan inherited the
interim constitution by amending the India Act 1935. In light of Indian Act of 1935, Provinces
were responsible for the local governments, and the responsibility of Cantonment boards of cantt
areas was given to the central government. This condition continued till 1958.
In 1958, General Ayub Khan introduced the ‘Basic Democracy’, which is at the door steps of
the people. During the period of 1972-76, due to separation of East Pakistan, the urban local
governments was effected badly and ignored by the PPP government.

In 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq again re-energized the local government’s policy. He introduced
the ‘Local Government Ordinance of 1979’, which provide the Four-Tier Structure for
Urban Areas and Two-Tier Structure for Rural Areas. During the period of 1988-99 many
different authoritative figures implemented the local government system in accordance to its
needed. And then, in 1999 General Pervez Musharraf immediately introduced the “Seven-
Point Agenda” and later in 2000 his government introduced the “Devolution of Power Plan”
for local governments. The government of PML’N also worked for local self-government, and
was introduced the ‘Local Governments Act of 2013’ and ‘Sindh Local Government Act
2013’.

1. Structure of Local Self Government

Local government is a body, which is a form of public administration, active for a small
and specific geographic area, like city, town or village. It works like national government, but
only on a smaller scale. There is no country, which have not its local government. In some
countries the term is used ‘Municipal government’ for local government. But in Pakistan it is
known as ‘District government system’. There are two types of local government.

a-Loacal Government: It is served by appointed bureaucrats.

b-Local Self-Government: It is served by elected representatives.

Structure of Local Self Government in Pakistan;

In Pakistan, local government plays its role in different eras with its developmental progress. The
detail of history of local government in Pakistan is given below.

2. Local Self Government in Pakistan (1947-54)

Newly established state faced many difficulties to administer its system and tried to overcome
the situations. Immediately, it took many steps to stable its government, not only national level
but also struggled to overcome the local issues at city and village level.

a. Sindh Local Authority Service Act 1947

Under this Act Sindh government appointed some authorities on the key posts for Municipal
Committees and for some other local bodies.

b. Baluchistan Municipal Act 1947

Baluchistan introduced this Act for Municipal Committee Quetta in 1947, to regulate the local
system of Baluchistan.

c. Muslim League’s Manifesto of 1948, The US Models

In 1948, Muslim League’s manifesto gave birth a policy, which is based on the models of
parishes and communes of United States. “The spirit gradually penetrated in to the government’s
policy and its main points were:

i. Adult franchise was introduced in local bodies.

ii. Nomination of members to boards and committees was abolished and elections were
introduced.
iii. The office of the chairman was made open for election.
iv. A village or group of villages with the population of not less than two or more than ten
thousand was to have a village council”.[ CITATION Kha \l 1033 ]
d. N.W.F.P Municipal Act 1950

Under this Act, the government of N.W.F.P introduced some changes in previous local system.
The elections of local bodies were held on basis of adult franchise, moreover it also introduced a
change in Act that the Ward-Person was appointed in Place of elected members of local
government.

e. Town Improvement Act 1953

This Act was passed by East Pakistan for the development of big cities, like Dacca and
Naraingunj.

Later in 1956, Mr. S. D. Khan who was an officer of secretariat group and re-organized the East
Pakistan’s local system. He organized Three Tiers of Local Governments in Pakistan

i. Union boards
ii. District Boards
iii. Municipal Committees or Town Councils

f. Village Aid Programme (1954)

In this programme the administrator was responsible for five wards of rural areas. His duties
were to maintain roads and improve health and educational departments, etc.
3. Gen Ayub Khan’s Basic Democrats (1958-69)

In 1958, Gen Ayub Khan came into power and he introduced ‘Basic Democracy’ in which the
local bodies were created under the 80,000 Basic Democrats.

Principles

‘Basic Democracies’ has two basic principles, (i) coordination and (ii) integration.

(i) Coordination
All the local bodies would be working in coordinative environment and all local
governments would be working very close to each other and look like one of the whole
system.
(ii) Integration
It means the local, central, and provincial governments would be working in cooperative
and friendly environment for the public welfare and organized and integrated system.

Structure

The structure of ‘Basic Democracies consists on Four Tiers;

First Tier: the first tier is based on the following organs;

(i) Union Council for Rural areas

(ii) Union Council for Urban areas
(iii) Town Committee

Second Tier: the second tier is based on the following organs;

(i) Tehsil Thana council for rural areas

(ii) Municipal committee for urban areas
(iii) Cantonment Boards for cantt areas
Third Tier: the third tier was consisting on District Council, which has 50% official and 50%
unofficial members.

Fourth Tier: the fourth tier consists on Divisional council. It has also 50% official and 50%
unofficial members, who are supervised by Divisional commissioners.

During Separation of East Pakistan

In 1971, the system of government and environment of country was fully stressed because of
separation of East Pakistan. So, the system of local government was also shattered because of
totally ignored by government and local bodies. The structure of local government was destroyed
at rural and urban level. The administrative authorities and local bodies were abolished.
4. Pakistan People’s Party era (1970-76)

In Dec 19, 1971, PPP came into power and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became the Acting President
and First Civilian Marshal Law in Pakistan. He re-organized the structure of local government.

He organized Two Groups of local structure.

 Local government for rural areas

 Local government for urban areas

Rural Local Government: consists on Dehi Council, Halqa Council and Zila Council.

Urban Local Government: consists on Town Committee, Municipal Committee, and

Municipal Corporation.

Pakistan People’s Party also introduced a scheme named as People’s Work Programme, in
which only the PPP political workers were empowered to distribute the funds for local
development but these selected political workers were involved in the male practice, corruption
and misappropriation in the funds instead of furnishing the basic human facilities. Now from
here on words, the corruption started in the local bodies.
5. Local self Government during Gen Zia-ul-Haq Era (1977-88)

After the decline of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, local government was re-arranged by Gen Zia-ul-Haq
which was different from the system of Gen Ayub khan. He demolished the Bureaucratic
Control and declared ‘Elected House’ as controlling authority. This is totally different from
Ayub Kahn’s ‘Basic Democracies’. He introduced the Deputy Commissioner as controlling
authority and executive head of ‘District Council’.

He introduced an autonomous local council for urban areas, and The district council has
representatives for both urban (municipal committees) and rural (Tehsil councils) coordination.

Gen Zia-ul-Haq introduced the ‘Local Government Ordinance 1979’; Following are the
hierarchical division of administrators to arrange the local self-government.

Local Government Ordinance, 1979

In 1979, Zia introduced identical Ordinances for four Provinces on the local government
repealing the previous enactments on the subject. These were very elaborate statutes and were
generally welcomed as these statutes created a hope amongst the people for resolution of their
daily civil problems at local level. The new legislation provided for civics bodies both for rural
and urban areas with enhanced fiscal responsibility. The law also provided the concept of
metropolitan corporations. The local councils were empowered to levy taxes and duties, cause
removal of encroachments and nuisances as well as to initiate prosecution of the delinquents.
The new legislation certainly empowered the local government institutions to manage their own
affairs, particularly in matters relating to previsions of civics services. It was considered that the
new laws undoubtedly had taken positive steps towards devolution of powers to the lower tiers
of democratic institutions. Elections were also held in all the Provinces under the new
Ordinances, but these statutes were strongly criticized for having too much official interference
in the affairs of the civics bodies.
The division of the local governments was based on Four Tiers.

1. Town Committee
2. Municipal Committee
3. Municipal Corporation
4. Metropolitan Corporation

To deal with rapid and lower level issues, introduced the ‘Panchayat’ System. Panchayat was
actively did its duties. Society was represented including women, laborers, farmers and
minorities. These were elected by concerned council, while the minorities had their separate
electorates.
6. General Pervaiz Musharraf’s Devolution Plan (1999-2007)

In 1999, General Pervez Musharraf came with his ‘Seven Point Agenda’. This agenda has the
following points:

1. Re-building the national confidence and morale

2. Strengthening the federation, while removing inter-provincial disharmony
3. Reviving and ensuring investor confidence
4. Ensuring law and order and dispensing speedy justice
5. De-politicizing state institutions
6. Devolving power to grass-root level
7. Ensuring swift and across the board accountability

National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB)

National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) constructed the devolution plan, which has ‘5Ds’
Model. The 5Ds Model explains below:

1-D: Devolution of political power: It has three tiers, mission, vision, and goals. Power
devolved these three tiers.

2-D: Decentralization of administrative authority: The District level departments were

decentralized by operational autonomy.

3-D: De-concentration of management function: An approach would be focused on

meritocracy, performance based appraisal system, specialized versus generalization, recognition
and reward.

4-D: Distribution of resources to the districts: Taxes and incur the expenditures were raised by
district government.

5-D: Diffusion of power-authority nexus: It is monitored by civilians and elected bodies and
civil society involvement in developmental work for effective check and balance.
According to Plan, the system was designed to ensure that the genuine interests of the people are
served and their rights are safeguarded through an enabling environment, people’s participation,
clear administrative responsibilities without political interference and making it answerable to
the elected head of the districted. At the same time it promises checks and balance to safeguard
against abuse of authority.

Nawaz Sharif Era 2013-2017

Punjab Local Government Act, 2013

Under the Act 2013, the lowest tier of the local government was the Union Councils, both for
the rural and urban areas. Each Union Council would have one Chairman and one Vice
Chairman.

All Chairmen of the Rural Union Councils shall be the members of the District Council
along with the following members indirectly elected on the reserved seats:-

(i) such number of women members, not exceeding five, as the Provincial Government
may notify on the basis of number of Union Councils in the District Council;
(ii) such number of peasant members, not exceeding three, as the Government may notify
on the basis of number of Union Councils in the District Council;
(iii) one technocrat member;

(iv) One youth member;

(iv) Such non-Muslim members, not exceeding five, as the Government may notify for
each District Council.

The members of the Municipal Committees would be elected their Chairmen and Vice
Chairmen as joint candidates from amongst themselves, by majority votes of the members
present and voting.

a. such number of women members, not exceeding five, as the Government may notify on
the basis of number of wards in the Municipal Committee;
b. such number of worker members, not exceeding two, as the
c. Government may notify on the basis of number of wards in the Municipal Committee;
d. one youth member; and
e. such number of non-Muslim members, not exceeding three, as the Government may notify
for each Municipal Committee.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013, contains quite a few provisions on the
lines of 2001 Ordinance relating to decentralization of several Provincial administrative offices,
in particular Health and Education, to the elected representatives of the local governments. The
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2012, which is based on 1979 Ordinance, is still
force. Even otherwise, no efforts for holding local government elections are in sight. Nor in this
regard, any tentative date for such elections has been indicated.

Conclusion

The local governments system of Pakistan is developed step by step and passed through many
phases. At the time of early independence, Pakistan faced many difficulties to overcome the
week structure of the state. In those days, administration of state was survived through some
short and temporary policies or acts. In 1959, Ayub Khan took over the power and first time he
organized the local government as a regular authority. He introduced ‘Basic democracy’ in
which describes the local structure for local bodies. After him, Pakistan People’s Party came into
power by winning elections, and introduced some new reforms to improve local government.
But, in 1971, India attack on Pakistan and war was out-break, and Pakistan faced a heavy loss,
and also lost East Pakistan.