Recent events in Karachi unveiled the deep divide that exists between the ranks of ruling Pakistan People’s Party administration in Sindh and the elected local representatives belonging to Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

A cleanliness drive, announced by the leadership of MQM in early March 2016, was instantly obstructed by the concerned officials who intend to keep control over the crippled Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). By enacting many parallel laws to undermine the natural mandate of municipal functions, a tug-of-war has been initiated. The sole affectees of this sorry state of affairs are the millions of ordinary citizens of Karachi and other locations in urban Sindh who suffer due to the absence of basic municipal services.

Heaps of garbage all across streets and neighbourhoods, faulty services of water supply and sanitation, broken roads unworthy of facilitating movement of vehicles, lack of public transport, no supply of land for housing for the urban poor and a gross absence of regulatory checks on urban development paints an absolutely gloomy scenario. Many critiques compare this situation with the rule of East India Company where the corrupt officials would engage in loot and plunder with no restraint; leaving the people in dismal anarchy.

It is sad to note that while federal and provincial governments tend to collaborate, local tiers are left out in the chill. This opposition is especially enacted by the henchmen who control provincial tiers of respective parties.

It is correct that local government systems have been bolstered by military dictators for their own vested interests but this fact does not undermine the inbuilt merits and opportunities. Foremost in this respect is the creation of a legitimate avenue for leadership development. In an arena where dynastic and aristocratic claims to leadership overtake merit at every end, the only option which can enable future political leadership to emerge is local government.

There are hundreds of case studies pertinent to ordinary councilors, women/labour councilors, union council nazims, town/ tehsil/ taluka level leaders and district level representatives who were able to win their offices purely on merit and later proved their popularity through re-election. Even in the most dangerous labyrinths of the province, these dedicated public representatives made tireless efforts to address pressing problems related to education, health, social welfare and area management. Some of them were even devoid of any political affiliation and had to face the wrath of both right and left wing parties.

The two elections during 2001 and 2005 were reasonable tests for the evaluation of their performance -- mal-functioning of electoral process notwithstanding. Real political culture cannot be nurtured without frequenting the practice of voting process in the party cadres, local, provincial and national assemblies.

The elections in 2015 generated enormous enthusiasm amongst the masses. This is for the reason that people are generally eager to observe how elected local leaders improve the local infrastructure and services. Needless to say, the roots of democracy can only germinate if these elected legitimate representatives are allowed to take charge of the lowest level of governance.

If one examines the level of association of common folks with the local councilor and other representatives, one can see that it constitutes the baseline of political interactions. Besides, people need an efficient service delivery mechanism and complaint redressal system for routines such as attestation, verification and certification of various kinds. Local institutions and their elected members are normally forthcoming in such tasks. Small-scale development schemes, maintenance and repair projects are also important works that require immediate attention. If the decision making apparatus is centralised in Karachi and in the person of chief minister, very little progress can be expected.

Expecting bureaucrats alone to be sympathetic to local issues may also not be very realistic. A well-functioning local government system in urban and rural domains has to be strengthened after correcting the various handicaps that it has faced. Problems identified during the past several years include poor quality of human resource, paucity of operational budgets, weak mechanism of monitoring, absence of effective audit and accounts procedures, financial dependence on the provincial / federal government, lack of control over police force, tutelage exercised by federal / provincial institutions, and inability to generate development finance for local scale works. One finds more developed cities like Karachi struggling with a shortage of funds for strengthening vital services such as water supply. Many other sectors are even worse in service delivery outreaches.

The current breakdown of law and order is also a crucial matter that needs attention from political parties. The relationship of local scale policing and maintenance of peace and harmony among the ranks of various interest groups can be facilitated through an efficient local government. While the provincial status of the police department may remain intact, some local autonomy can be negotiated among the politicians and civil society to carve out a workable solution. The Karachi operation -- that began in 2013 and is still ongoing -- should be seen in the context of breakdown of governance including the deterioration of municipal services as these factors allowed lawless elements to overwhelm the city.

The case of Sindh is an obtuse political equation. The provincial government belongs largely to non-urban orientation. Thus, transferring power to local government would mean create a competition - even at intra-party levels -- for which parties have neither the preparation nor the capacity. Many provincial law-makers are sitting in the assemblies due to their alleged closeness to the party chairperson and others who matter. But such politicians may not be allowed to run away from the problems of cities that became grave due to their differences, greed for clandestine power and pelf and criminal inaction. The Sindh government should evolve a fresh consensus by using elected local government to serve their clearly pronounced manifestoes. Capacity building in the local service delivery; notification and inaction of bodies such as public safety commissions, citizen community boards or finance commissions; development of municipal services as specialized cadres; launch of appropriate taxes to generate local revenue and the acceleration of mass contact to stretch the outreach of this tier are some basic steps.

There are many institutional arms, think tanks and nongovernmental organizations that have garnered enough experience to transform the political objectives into a proper workable blue print for the future form of local government. In the spirit of democracy and fair play, any such blue print should be debated thread bare with each stake holder, party and group that matter in Sindh. The new local government should bring peace and harmony to the province, not generate further schisms in the already divided ranks in the society.