News
Monday, July 11, 2011
MQM rejects revival of commissionerate system* Decides to contest provincial government’s decision in courts
Staff Report
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has rejected revival of commissionerate system in Sindh and decided to contest provincial government’s decision in courts.
Terming the decision as the worst form of dictatorship, the MQM has announced a campaign to mould the public opinion. Briefing media after meeting of the Co-ordination Committee in London and Karachi simultaneously, MQM’s Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar said the MQM rejected revival of the commissionerate system in principle. Dr Sattar said that restoration of the commissionerate system reflected an inherent autocratic approach of the government. Deputy Convener Anis Qaimkhani and other members of the Co-ordination Committee were also present on the occasion.
He said taking away powers from local governments and empowering bureaucracy through the revival of the obsolete commissionerate system was patently dictatorial and autocratic. “All democracies in the world have a well-established local government system and that absence of a vibrant local government system is in fact a manifestation of autocracy,” he said.
Dr Sattar said that imposition of the commissionerate system violated article 140-A of the constitution. “The MQM had ensured that the local government system could not be dismantled by the 18th Constitutional Amendment as well,” he said. Dr Sattar said that imposition of the commissionerate system negated democracy and democratic norms. “An efficient way of resolving problems of people at the lowest level would have been to give power to the people who were easily accessible to the public,” he said, adding the commissionerate system would build the bureaucratic infrastructure.
Dr Sattar said real intentions of the government behind this decision could easily been seen. He said that if the commissionerate system was so good, it would have been in vogue in the United Kingdom as well. He said the system had become timeworn and was not functional in any country of the world.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk