Bureaucracy Has Never Allowed Elected Representatives to Become Empowered; Our Struggle Will Intensify
Jamaat-e-Islami Demands a New, Fair and Empowered Local Government Law.
Statement by Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore, Ziauddin Ansari Advocate, during media talk at Muslim Town Public Referendum Camp Polling Station.
Lahore: The second day of Jamaat-e-Islami’s public referendum against the Punjab Local Government Act continued successfully and with full public participation. The referendum will continue until January 18, 2026. Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore, Ziauddin Ansari Advocate, visited the polling camp established in Muslim Town and reviewed the arrangements.Speaking to the media, he said that the public referendum has been progressing successfully since yesterday, with citizens in large numbers casting their votes against what he termed the “black local government law.” He emphasized that Jamaat-e-Islami seeks a truly empowered local government system in which financial and administrative authority is transferred to elected public representatives. He stated that the Punjab Local Government Act snatches away the constitutional right of governance from the people and is therefore completely unacceptable. Instead of strengthening the local government system, the law renders it ineffective. The Punjab government, he said, is attempting to curtail the powers of elected representatives rather than empowering them, as part of a plan to further strengthen bureaucracy at the expense of public mandate.Ziauddin Ansari pointed out that Lahore is a metropolitan city, yet it has been unjustifiably divided into nine or ten towns, which is highly unfair. He termed it the height of injustice that these towns are being placed under the control of Deputy Commissioners. He added that since the creation of Pakistan, bureaucracy has consistently obstructed elected representatives from exercising real authority.The Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore further stated that the Constitution of Pakistan clearly mandates elections on a party basis, whereas the Punjab government intends to hold local government elections on a non-party basis. He warned that the condition requiring candidates to join a political party after one month opens the door to horse-trading, and it appears that this practice is now being extended down to neighborhood and street levels.He reiterated that Jamaat-e-Islami demands a new, fair, and empowered local government law that ensures real authority for elected representatives.On the occasion, Deputy Secretaries Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore Qaiser Sharif and Shahid Naveed Malik, along with party leaders Ahmed Salman Baloch, Fayyaz Ahmed Faizi, Hafiz Abdul Latif, Abdul Rehman, Qari Muhammad Saleem, Jameel Ahmed, and other party office-bearers, were also present.
