Small administrative units are essential for Pakistan. Those who criticize the idea of smaller administrative units should ask themselves whether their commitment to democracy extends beyond mere slogans. Small administrative units are, in fact, a means of empowering people at the grassroots level. Only those who have kept society under their grip in the name of democracy, and who are unwilling to think beyond their familial, group, and financial interests, can oppose this idea.

If we look at the constitutional scheme, the Constitution provides not only for elections to the National Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies but also for local government elections. The issue is that if elections to the National Assembly or the Provincial Assemblies are postponed for some time, are not held on schedule, or are delayed, there is an uproar that the Constitution is being violated. But the Constitution also provides for local government elections. So why is it that, despite the absence of local elections, no political party raises the same outcry that the Constitution is being undermined?

What kind of commitment to constitutional supremacy is this, when it is confined only to elections for the National Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies? The obvious reason is that political parties conduct their affairs through these assemblies. No Member of the National Assembly or Member of the Provincial Assembly wants the people of his constituency to become free from his control. That is why most political parties support the local government system only in words, not in practice. A strong local government system empowers people at the grassroots........

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