SPEAKING to the First Constituent Assembly in 1947, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah outlined several duties for the government of Pakistan: maintain law and order, root out corruption, act against black marketeering, and not allow nepotism. Jinnah advised inclusive governments based on the rule of law, merit-based governance, religious freedom and equality of all citizens.
Seven decades later, it is evident that the parliamentary form of government as practised and direct military rule have failed to deliver the good governance envisioned by the founder. A major reason is that the prerequisites of parliamentary democracy were never put in place. Firstly, for any parliamentary governance to succeed, there must be considerable devolution of power and resources to administrative sub-units. The 18th Amendment introduced in 2010 devolved resources to the provinces, but not beyond this to districts or tehsils.