QUETTA: More than two years after the local government elections in Balochistan, more than 27 per cent of union councils across the province remain non-functional due to a lack of funding, while elections for the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation (QMC) have yet to be held, leaving the civic body under administrative control.

This was disclosed during a session on the state of local government, organised by the Balochistan Women Business Association (BWBA) at the Quetta Press Club.

The event was attended by a large number of stakeholders, including Chief Officer of the Local Government Metropolitan Corporation Matiur Rehman Kasi, and former councillors Yasmeen Mughal, Aslam Rind, Behram Baloch, Zafar Baloch, Behram Lehri and others.

Zahra Hassan, organiser of the BWBA, opened the discussion by emphasising the role of elected local governments in solving public issues at the grassrootslevel.She said operational and empowered local bodies were key to addressing people`s daily problems through their elected representatives.

Speakers described local government as the backbone of democratic governance, noting that Pakistan, especially Balochistan, has one of the weakest and most dysfunctional local government systems.

Out of Balochistan`s 871 union councils, more than aquarter have yet to become operational due to the absence of budgetary allocations, the participants noted.

They spoke at length on the importance and use of the local government system, which they said has ironically remained fragile under democratic governments but got more autonomy during the military regimes of Gen Ayub, Gen Zia and Gen Musharraf and even during the British colonial rule before the creation of Pakistan.

The absence oflocalgovernment elections in Quetta was attributed to political interference and disputes over constituency delimitations raised by political parties, the participants noted.

They stressed that the objective of the local government system was to establish effective links between the government and the public, improve service delivery, introduce a registration system for residents, address basic issues, focus on basicinfrastructure and ensure access to essentialservices like health, cleanliness and education atthe grassrootslevel.

A strong local government system not only reduced public problems but also promoted transparency and democracy, they added.

It was observed that accountability and transparency could only be achieved through a strong connection between citizens and the government.

They urged the provincial government to immediately hold overdue QMC elections to allow residents of Quetta to elect their representatives and end the reliance on bureaucratic administrators.

They also demanded that the funds allocated for the local bodies be distributed among the local government institutions through the provincial finance commission to initiate development projects.