Genuine governance

After over four years without local government elections, Punjab's cabinet has allocated funds to finally hold them, satisfying a constitutional obligation overdue since April twenty twenty-two. But according to Dawn, the existing local government law concentrates meaningful power in provincial hands, making elected representatives dependent on bureaucratic approval for routine decisions. This defeats grassroots governance. Without constitutional protection of local financial independence and accountability of police and bureaucracy to elected officials, elections merely satisfy a constitutional obligation while perpetuating the centralization that has fueled demands for redrawing provinces.

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