Political leadership and civil society representatives from various political parties and diverse segments of the civil society have unanimously welcomed the holding of local body elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) by the end of November this year.

Addressing a cross-party dialogue titled “Youth Empowerment through Local Bodies” hosted by the Center for Peace, Development and Reforms (CPDR), and supported by the United Nations Development Programme, the political leaders called for the emergence of an effective and financially empowered local government system in the state.

Speaking on the occasion, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Coordinator, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Syed Ali Hasnain Gilani highlighted the progress made on the 17 selected sustainable development goals in the region. He said that the implementation of these goals aimed to address poverty, hunger, food insecurity, health, education, clean drinking water and sanitation issues, gender inequality, unemployment, environmental challenges and many others. He also highlighted the youth policy of AJK and the AJK Legislative Assembly Task Force. He said that local government system was the soul of democracy and without it, there was no concept of a democratic system.

Former minister and PPP leader Sardar Abid Hussain Abid said that the government should authorize the Local bodies and all political parties must devise training programmes to guide youth in areas such as law-making, good governance, gender empowerment, accountability and conflict resolution. He suggested that elected councillors should be given reasonable remuneration and administrative powers.

Prominent businessman Sardar Shahzeb Khan said that instead of fantasizing about the Western model of democracy, we should turn to Islamic principles which provide the best guidelines for governance. He said that the local governments had to establish a system of taxes at the local level to generate their own resources.

President of PTI, District Poonch, Sardar Aurangzeb Khan said that the government would hold elections. Sardar Azhar Nazar, President of the Muslim Conference, Poonch District said that new leadership would emerge in the local elections which would end the current political status quo and people would look up to them as a solution to their problems.

Dr Waqas Ali, the host of the event and governance expert at the National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, said that political parties should ensure that seats reserved for youth and women were given to genuine political candidates and not distributed among their relatives. He said that the economic development and social harmony of Azad Jammu and Kashmir could not be achieved without devolving power at the grassroots level and empowering the local community.

CPDR Executive Director Ershad Mahmud in his speech said that Azad Jammu and Kashmir had experienced a massive earthquake in 2005 and it was now facing the challenges of climate change. Elected local government representatives could play an important role in climate change adaptation and mitigation processes.

Elected councillors were familiar with local issues and ground realities, and had strong links with the local communities. He said that the political and economic structure of Azad Kashmir would change completely with the local body elections and local representatives taking power.

Aniqa Aziz said that women should be given full representation in the local body system. Mona Khan said that the political system was incomplete without the participation of women. One of the students of the UPR, Rawalakot said that the young people in AJK lacked motivation and direction in life. They needed effective leadership and representation at the local level to utilize their potential effectively, she added. Prof. Kausar Hussain Shah suggested organizing more seminars and dialogues to inform different sections of society about the roles and functions of local representatives.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk