Tell the Chief Ministers that they will be sent home before the next general elections and the Chief Secretaries of their provinces will replace them. Then see how vehemently they will protest against the idea. It will be against the Constitution, they will say. It will be undemocratic. They are elected representatives of the people. They are very responsible persons. There is no possibility of their misuse of powers and position in the elections. They are capable of holding free and fair election.
Fine. Then why are they pressing for the removal of all Zila Nazims before the coming elections of Local Governments? It will be against the law, as the Local Government Ordinance does not allow the appointment of administrators in place of Zila Nazims. The Nazims are also elected representatives of the people. (In fact, the Zila Nazims are more representative because only a small number of MPAs elects the Chief Ministers.) The Zila Nazims cannot misuse their powers and position because there are so many checks against them.
If the Chief Ministers can be trusted not to use their powers and position to manipulate general election despite the resources of the entire province at their disposal, why is it so difficult to trust the Zila Nazims?
Why are the Chief Ministers so keen to remove the Zila Nazims before the elections? The obvious fact is that they themselves want to rig the elections to bring in their own favorites. They know the Zila Nazims have done tremendous work during their term and are popular among the people. The Chief Ministers know that their own nominees stand little chance of winning against the sitting Nazims. So, they want to deny the people their right to elect their own representatives. So much for their love for democracy. Let us not forget that the very first provincial elections under a sitting chief minister (Mumtaz Daultana) in the Punjab in 1950s were so rigged that the Punjabi term, jhurloo phairna, entered Urdu. No wonder, since then no sitting chief minister was allowed to hold elections.
The President introduced the Local Government system despite stiff opposition from the politicians and the bureaucrats. The demand for the appointment of administrators is an attempt to sabotage the system. He must reject it, along with other unreasonable demands to change the Local Government Ordinance.
