LAHORE: Former Interior Minister and PPP senior leader Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan on Thursday lamented the lack of serious efforts by political parties to hold local government elections, warning that Pakistan’s continued delay in empowering district governments is weakening the federation.
Addressing a seminar titled “More Provinces or Empowered District Governments” jointly organized by the Peoples Information Bureau and Bhutto Shaheed Foundation, Ahsan said local bodies are not a substitute for any tier of government and their elections “must be held regardless.”
The event brought together politicians, analysts and intellectuals to debate provincial autonomy after the 18th Amendment, federal structure, and governance failures.
Ahsan drew comparisons with China’s model of “economic democracy with political authoritarianism” and voiced alarm over Pakistan’s USD 150 billion debt burden. “We are consuming the earnings of our future generations,” he said, urging an “organized and broad-based movement” to overcome divisions of sect and caste. He added that Pakistan had turned neighbours into enemies and risked “irreparable harm” if it continued to waste its potential.
PPP Central Punjab Information Secretary Shehzad Saeed Cheema criticized reliance on IMF bailouts and said the real issue was not authority but the distribution of powers.
South Asian Free Media Association’s Secretary General Imtiaz Alam said the Council of Common Interests had not met in two years and accused military dictators of introducing district governance to weaken parliament.
PPP CEC member Barrister Aamir said new provinces should only be created constitutionally and stressed that powers must now be devolved from provinces to districts, warning that public patience with politics is wearing thin.
The seminar concluded with calls for constitutional devolution, judicial independence, and an end to what speakers termed “administrative ungovernability.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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