Abstract
In Pakistan, political engineers at different times have designed such institutional structures which have generally resulted in their mutual tug of war. This has not only happened at the national level but also at the local level. Democracy has been a victim of three enemies: incompetent politicians; military coups and a corrupt bureaucracy. The last corrodes the system from within.. 1 Despite their role as micro managers local government institutions have ironically been opposed by the higher bureaucracy. It has been its effort all along to weaken the local elected bodies, make them subserveient and keep them under its thumb. In fact the bureaucracy has used the local institutions to further consolidate their power. Under the Devolution of Power Plan, 2001 an attempt was made to make bureaucracy subordinate to local elected-public representatives. Unfortunately, this plan too could not escape the stranglehold of the bureaucracy. The civil servants in collaboration with power hungry politicians saw to it that democracy at the grass-roots level failed each time it was introduced in Pakistan. In short, local governments have been an anathema in the political and administrative structures prevailing in Pakistan.

Amir Ullah Khan. (2014) Liberating Local Democracy from Subservience to Bureaucracy in Pakistan: Ramifications & Recommendations, IPRI Journal, Volume-14, Issue-2.
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