QUETTA ; Former Supreme Court Bar Association president and retired Senator Amanullah Kanrani has launched a scathing critique against the Balochistan government and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), accusing them of colluding to postpone local elections in Quetta, a move he described as “tantamount to an excuse being worse than the sin.”
In a strongly-worded statement, Kanrani dismissed the justifications for the delay, citing historical precedent. He recalled that general elections were held in severe cold and snowfall on December 7, 1970, and during the peak heat of Ramadan on July 25, 2018. “The matter is not about weather… but about intentions and public support,” he asserted.
Kanrani argued that parties resisting local elections are insincere about devolving power and possess a “mindset of concentration of powers.” He stated that their reluctance raises serious questions about the legitimacy of their provincial and national mandates.
Launching a broader indictment of Pakistan’s political culture, Kanrani accused certain parties of looking to America and Britain as a “Qibla and Kaaba” for democracy while failing to adopt their core principle of empowered local governance. “In all developed countries, administrative and financial powers are held by local governments; federal and provincial governments are dependent on them,” he said.
Lamenting the state of the nation, he described Pakistan as “disorganized” and its people “herded like a flock,” with paralyzed judicial, administrative, and parliamentary systems. In a drastic concluding remark, Kanrani suggested that if power will not be devolved, it would be “better to remove Article 140-A from the constitution,” which enshrines the establishment of local governments.
Meanwhile the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) has strongly condemned the eleventh-hour postponement of the long-awaited local government elections in Quetta, terming it an “unconstitutional” act that deprives citizens of their fundamental right to representation.
In a sharply worded statement issued on Sunday, the HDP expressed profound regret over the decision, stating there was “no justification” for delaying the polls when all preparations were complete, political activities had been ongoing for a month, over a hundred candidates had already been elected unopposed, and only three days remained until election day. The party highlighted that the citizens of Quetta have been without local government representatives for an entire decade.
