ISLAMABAD, 1 August - President Pervez Musharraf will address the first convention of elected district nazims (top officials) and naib nazims (deputies) here on Aug. 14, which will formally set the ball rolling for new local government system in at least 83 districts of the country.
"Around 390 nazims, naib nazims, women representatives and people elected on reserved seats are invited for this convention," a senior official told Arab News yesterday. He said by the time Musharraf addresses this gathering the law on local government system would be in place with abolition of divisions under the local government laws.
"The president will unfold the whole future plan of the local government, and will take these people into confidence that the public representatives at the grass-roots level would work freely under the devolution plan," said the official.
The respective provincial governments will promulgate the local government laws, without any amendment to be announced in the constitution through a PCO, which will spell out the functioning, duties of the public representatives and the government officers like DCOs and others and their functions, said the official. The role of the DCOs will be similar to that of a commissioner in the abolished system based on divisions, though there will be separate law governing removal of the nazim and naib nazim and creating a system of checks and balance in its powers.
He said the voluminous new local government laws have already been sent to the respective provinces, which will promulgate it before Aug. 14. The last phase of elections to district nazims and naib nazims and tehsil/town levels and against seats reserved for women, peasants, workers and minorities would be held on Aug. 2 in 83 districts. The local government elections in the federal capital, cantonments and FATA would be held in September this year, as the government is still working to evolve a suitable local government systems in these specified areas within the framework of devolution plan.
