By Our Correspondent
Speaker Punjab Assembly Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan attended the National Conference ‘Local Governance in Pakistan: Empowering Communication,’ held at Beaconhouse BNU as the Chief Guest. Addressing participants, he said a government “cannot breathe” without local governments. Just as the federation and provinces are indispensable, he added, local governments are an essential component of the state structure.
Read also: PA Speaker emphasizes Parliament’s authority in judicial appointments, highlights women’s education
The Speaker said that if any agenda of the Constitution of Pakistan remains unfinished, it is the system of local government. He noted that dialogue is increasingly treated as a crime in society, yet all political parties in the Punjab Assembly, including the opposition, unanimously passed a resolution supporting constitutional protection for the existence of local governments.
He said several members of the Assembly personally approached him, emphasizing the urgent need for constitutional guarantees for local governments. The matter, he added, has already been forwarded to the Chairman Senate, the Speaker National Assembly, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Highlighting the historical context, Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan said that a person who understood this system 140 years ago knew better than many today how the establishment of empowered local governments could effectively resolve major public issues, including health. He questioned how such a critical structure could be addressed in just a single sentence in the Constitution.
Emphasizing the importance of strong and empowered local institutions, he said that without functional local governments, the relationship between the state and citizens weakens. “How long can 1,100 or 1,200 individuals manage the affairs of 250 million people?” he asked. He stressed that improvement is impossible until citizens become real partners in governance, adding that authority becomes stronger when it is shared.
The Speaker also underscored the need to extend the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award to the local level, arguing that equitable resource distribution is the foundation of a stable social structure. He cited the stark contrast between the monthly spending on a child studying in a top-tier school in major cities and the significantly lower spending on a child in rural areas, calling it an example of unfair distribution.
In his concluding remarks, Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan said he was speaking to the state as a citizen: “If the state provides me with good transportation, quality education, and essential public services, I will stand with it. But without my local ownership, nothing can function properly.”
