I ended the last column on the inference that if Pakistan wants to test whether it actually believes in devolved governance, it doesn’t need a new constitutional amendment or a new province. It simply needs to hold the local government elections the law already requires and then let those local governments keep their powers and their money.

The recent record is not encouraging. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local councils were dissolved earlier this year and, months later, the provincial government still had not announced a date for fresh elections, despite a legal requirement to do so within 120 days. Punjab has effectively operated without elected local representation since 2019, with repeated rounds of delimitation announced and then quietly allowed to lapse. Islamabad’s residents – around 2.5 million people dealing with unpaved streets and water shortages – have waited more than five years for local elections that have now been rescheduled for the fourth time.

Fixing the elections problem alone will not be enough without also fixing the money problem.

Fixing the elections problem alone will not be enough without also fixing the money problem.

Even the Election Commission has........

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