Clarifying SLGA

This refers to the news report ‘Sindh govt to implement ‘clear’ provisions of SC order on LG ‘immediately’: Saeed Ghani’ (February 2). Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani has declared that the ‘clear sections’ of the (court) order will be implemented immediately while the provincial government will seek clarity on the provision that are not clear. One would think that the court order was detailed enough to make even persons of average intelligence understand what it means.

One feels that what is truly preventing the PPP from designing and implementing a comprehensive local government (LG) system is not a lack of information, but rather an absence of will and a desire to continue misusing municipal powers. After all, the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001, former mayor Mustafa Kamal and institutions like PILDAT can all help the PPP design a comprehensive LG system within a short period. Perhaps, its desire to seek ‘further guidance’ from the court is based on its expectation that its petition might take the same time as the MQM petition did, which was filed in 2017, and the verdict for which has only just been announced.

S R H Hashmi

Karachi