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PAKISTAN
SUMMARY
Pakistan is a federal republic with three tiers of government: national, provincial and
local. Local government is protected by the constitution in Articles 32 and 140-A, and
each province also has its own local-government-enabling legislation and ministries
responsible for implementation. District councils and metropolitan corporations are
respectively the highest rural and urban tiers of local government in the provinces. Both
urban and rural local government have two or three tiers in all provinces except Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, where councils are not identified as either urban or rural. There are 129
district councils across the four provinces, 619 urban councils made up of one city district,
four metropolitan corporations, 13 municipal corporations, 96 municipal committees,
148 town councils, 360 urban union committees, and 1,925 rural councils. Additionally
there are 3339 neighbourhood, ‘tehsil’ and village councils in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Ability to raise local revenue varies according to provincial legislation. District councils and
metropolitan corporations have significant responsibilities, often jointly with either higher
provincial government – eg for policing (union guards), education, healthcare, roads and
local economic development – or with lower levels of local government – eg for water and
sanitation, museums and libraries and environmental protection.
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COUNTRY PROFILE 2017–18 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM IN pakistan
3. STRUCTURE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT 3.3.1 District councils: There are 129 4.4 Women’s representation
3.1 Local government within the state district councils across the five provinces. Following elections in 2013 and 2015,
The local government system is based approximately 19.6% of councillors were
on the federated structures of a three- 3.3.2 Urban councils: There are 2,055 women. There is reservation for women
tier system of district (zila), tehsil and urban councils made up of one city councillors: 33% in Balochistan, 22% in
union councils. Each level has defined district, four metropolitan corporations, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, 15%
functions and service responsibilities. 24 municipal corporations, 280 in Punjab. In the 2013 Balochistan local
There is a focus on agriculture, municipal committees, 148 town council elections, 2,335 out of 7,169
community development, education councils and 1,598 union committees. councillors were women: 2,332 via reserved
and health at district level; on municipal seats and three via non-reserved seats. In
infrastructure services at tehsil level; 3.3.3 Rural councils: There are 8,145 rural the 2015 cantonment elections, 2 out of
and on community-based services at councils: 166 District councils and 7,979 199 seats were won by women, and the
union level. The levels of government union councils. 33% reservation was not implemented.
are integrated through a bottom-up
planning system, the council electoral 5. SYSTEMS FOR
3.3.4 Cantonment boards: There
arrangements, and specific procedures COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
are 56 military cantonments which
for monitoring service delivery. Where 5.1 Legal requirement
are permanent stationed areas,
there have not been local government Each provincial law includes some
readministered by Cantonment Boards
elections, the administration of each mechanism for community involvement.
under the control of the Military Lands
district is assigned to an appointed
& Cantonments Department (MLCD),
district administrator.
Ministry of Defence, Cantonments are 5.2 Implementation
established under and governed by Councils are mandated to take a
3.2 Ministerial oversight the Cantonments Act, 1924. There are proactive role in promoting citizen
At the federal level, the Ministry of 43 cantonment boards where local involvement, identifying priorities and
Inter Provincial Coordination32.3b government elections were held in 2015. problems, organising local micro-
provides a coordination role. However, programmes, promoting civic education
local governments are created by the 4. ELECTIONS and gender equality, and organising
provinces and therefore ministerial 4.1 Recent local elections youth and recreational activities.
oversight rests with local government
Elections32.4a were held in Balochistan
departments at provincial level.32.3c–g Each
in 2013 and in 2015 in the provinces of 5.3 ICT use in citizen engagement
department is headed by a provincial
KPK, Sindh and Punjab as well as in No information is available.
minister of local government.
cantonment areas.32.4b
6. ORGANISED LOCAL GOVERNMENT
3.3 Council types 4.2 Voting system 6.1 National local government association
District councils and metropolitan All local elections use the first-past-the- There is currently no formal national
corporations are the highest tier of local post system. local government association in
government, whilst both urban and rural
Pakistan. However, a new national
local government have two or three tiers in 4.3 Elected representatives body to promote local democracy, the
all provinces except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
No information available. Association for the Development of Local
where councils are neither urban or rural
Government (ADLG), is being set up.
(Table 32.1a).
Table 32.1a Distribution of councils and population
Urban Rural Urban and rural KPK
TOTAL 129 1 4 24 280 148 1,598 2,055 166 7,979 8,145 504 69 2,835 9,398 56 190,328,362 73.6
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THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM IN pakistan COUNTRY PROFILE 2017–18
Table 32.1b Women councillors and mayors following the last two local elections 7. INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
Election 2005 2013–17 Local government is a provincial
responsibility, and the federal Ministry of
All councillors # % # % Inter Provincial Coordination facilitates
relations between the provinces.
All female councillors na na na na
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COUNTRY PROFILE 2017–18 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM IN pakistan
Union councils work closely with REFERENCES AND USEFUL WEBSITES 32.2l Urban Unit Punjab
village and neighbourhood councils 32.1a Government of Pakistan www.urbanunit.gov.pk/UU/About
in promoting and coordinating www.pakistan.gov.pk 32.3a 2017 Census
development activities, and submitting 32.1b Women in national parliaments. www.pbscensus.gov.pk/sites/
proposals through annual plans to Inter-Parliamentary Union default/files/Population_Results.pdf
the district and tehsil levels to inform www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm 32.3b Ministry of Inter Provincial
the development budget allocation Coordination www.ipc.gov.pk
32.2a Pakistan Constitution
process.
www.na.gov.pk/uploads/ 32.3c Balochistan Local Government and
documents/1333523681_951.pdf Rural Development Department
10.2 ICT use in service delivery www.balochistan.gov.pk/index.
32.2b Balochistan Local Government
Pakistan is in the process of Act 2010 http://balochistan.gov. php?option=com_content&view=
developing a national e-government pk/index.php?option=com_ category&id=39&Itemid=581
plan. It has already achieved immense docman&task=doc_ 32.3d Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local
success in the area of e-governance. download&gid=332&Itemid=667 Government, Elections and Rural
With the successful introduction of 3G Development Department
32.2c Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local
and 4G mobile broadband technology http://lgkp.gov.pk
Government Act 2013
by the Pakistan Telecommunication
www.khyberpakhtunkhwa. 32.3e Punjab Local Government &
Authority (PTA), mobile broadband
gov.pk/cms/downloads/kp.gov. Community Development
penetration has seen exponential
pk-downlaods-aeae5e9b4d (LG&CD) Department
growth. The PTA is now vigorously
9c0c6a0c4dbf8263ec7deb.pdf http://lgcd.punjab.gov.pk
planning to harness this opportunity
and make government services available 32.2d Punjab Local Government Act 32.3f Sindh Local Government, Rural
via mobile phone. 2013 http://punjablaws.gov.pk/ Development, Public Health
laws/2542.html Engineering, and Housing and
32.2e Sindh Local Government Act 2013 Town Planning Department
10.3 The role of local government www.sindh.gov.pk/dpt/Local%20 www.sindh.gov.pk
in achieving the UN Sustainable Government/THE DRAFT SINDH 32.3g Gilgit-Baltistan Local Government
Development Goals (SDGs) LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2013.pdf and Rural Development Department
The Government of Pakistan 32.2f Gilgit-Baltistan Local Government www.gilgitbaltistan.gov.pk
is committed to the SDGs, the Act 2014 http://gbpolicyinstitute. 32.4a Election commission
attainment of which it sees as enabling org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ www.ecp.gov.pk
the country to gain upper-middle Gilgit-Baltistan-Local- 32.4b Selected results from 2013 and
income status by 2030.32.10a Pakistan was Government-Bill-20141.pdf 2015 local government elections
the first country to adopt the SDGs’ 2030 32.2g Cantonment Laws (Amendment) www.electionpakistani.com/local-
agenda, through a unanimous resolution Act 2015 http://pakistanlawyer. government-bodies/index.html
of parliament. The government com/2016/07/03/cantonments- 32.5 No references for this section
conducted discussions with all amendment-act-2015 32.6 Local Councils Association of the
stakeholders on next steps following
32.2h Cantonment Local Government Punjab www.lcap.org. pk
the Millennium Development Goals
(Elections) Rules 2015 32.7 No references for this section
to achieve Pakistan’s sustainable
www.na.gov.pk/uploads/
development and poverty reduction 32.8 No references for this section
documents/1386310726_213.pdf
targets. The consultation process 32.9 No references for this section
32.2i Islamabad Capital Territory
emphasised the need for national 32.10a Pakistan’s commitment to the SDGs
Local Government Act 2013
categorisation of SDGs, improved http://pc.gov.pk/web/sdg/sdgpak
www.na.gov.pk/uploads/
data collection and enforcement of 32.10b Vision 2025 pillars
documents/1386597046_326.pdf
monitoring mechanisms. The seven http://pc.gov.pk/vision/pillers
pillars of Pakistan’s own Vision 202532.10b 32.2j Pakistan Institute for Legislative
Development and Transparency 32.10c Minister appoint UNDP champion
national plan are fully aligned with the
– Local Government Laws 2013: http://pc.gov.pk/web/blog/getblog/7
SDGs, providing a comprehensive long-
Comparative Analysis http:// 32.11a UN 2012 statistics surface area
term strategy for achieving inclusive
pildat.org/Publications/publication/ http://unstats.un.org/unsd/
growth and sustainable development.
FPLGS/LocalGovernmentLaws2013_ demographic/products/dyb/
At the federal level, a SDGs Monitoring
ComparativeAnalysis_2ndEdition.pdf dyb2006/Table03.pdf
and Coordination Unit, in coordination
with UNDP, is being set up to serve as a 32.2k Lawmakers agree merger of 32.11b UNDP HDR Pakistan country
national coordinating entity with similar FATA and KPK profile http://hdr.undp.org/en/
units in the provinces. In March 2016, the https://tribune.com.pk/ countries/profiles/PAK
minister for planning, development and story/1519837/historic-step-
reforms was named ‘champion minister’ lawmakers-agree-merge-fata-k-p
for the Asia-Pacific region by the UNDP
for his proactive work towards achieving
the SDGs.32.10c
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THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM IN pakistan COUNTRY PROFILE 2017–18
170 www.clgf.org.uk/pakistan