CMs for replacing Nazims with administrators in Pakistan
Pakistan Times Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Provincial chief ministers are concertedly trying to prevail upon the federal government to replace Nazims with administrators with the announcement of the schedule for the forthcoming local elections.

"We are being constantly urged to take a final decision for appointment of administrators in place of Nazims," an official said. The chief ministers want the Nazims to be away from their posts during the local bodies polls because they don’t consider them supportive or loyal, he said.

The official said the chief ministers want to have their nominees elected in place of the incumbent Nazims in the next elections. The ruling PML’s committee on political affairs has reinforced the voice of the chief ministers by publicly demanding replacement of the Nazims so that upcoming polls were "held in a fair, free and transparent manner and the opposition doesn’t get an opportunity to hurl allegations of manipulation against the government."

Among the chief ministers, Sindh’s Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has publicly demanded appointment of administrators in place of Nazims. He has shown forthrightness and straightforwardness in airing his views.

A proposal highlighted by the chief ministers in closed-door meetings with top federal government leaders is that the district coordination officers (DCO) should be nominated administrators of the district councils and their subordinate in-charge of the Tehsil and other local bodies.

After the dissolution of the local bodies on Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s demand shortly before the 1993 general elections, her subsequent government had appointed her party men as administrators. It never held local polls and continued to run the local councils through Pakistan People’s Party nominees. That had turned out to be a scandalous experience.

Most components of the ruling coalition, especially the PML, had always been uneasy with the Nazims because they had not been under its control in anyway. Since they were picked by intelligence agencies, they had been loyal to President Musharraf, the author of the district governments system, and in no way to political authorities of the civilian set up.

The chief ministers are now determined to capture the local councils with their eyes set on the next parliamentary elections. They think and rightly so that the Nazims and local councillors would play an important role in getting their nominees elected in the general polls.●