A 138-page governance reform plan submitted to Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif proposes a structural transformation for Islamabad, introducing an elected local government system with administrative and financial autonomy.
The proposal suggests establishing a 27-member elected assembly for the federal capital territory to handle local policies and select its own head, who will serve as either mayor or chief minister depending on the final legal framework.
The proposed Islamabad Capital Territory Government Act aims to transfer most governing powers to the local level while keeping law and order and master planning under federal control.
The rollout is planned as a five-year phased transition managed by a dedicated committee handling tax distribution, resource allocation, and administrative handover. Additionally, the plan recommends setting up six specialized institutions for health, education, tourism, and e-governance alongside a single digital platform for public records and complaints to increase transparency.
Journalist Muhammad Malick, speaking to a private media outlet, questioned the necessity of introducing new governance models when the existing local body system remains improperly implemented.
“I can’t see the logic behind it,” Malick stated. “Because right now there is a local body system in place. I don’t understand why we keep experimenting with new models when the old ones haven’t even been properly implemented or fixed”.
Malick raised questions on the administrative form and structure of the proposed smaller units, suggesting that the initiative functions as a localized experiment.
“People are talking about creating administrative units within provinces,” Malick said. “What would their structure be? What would their administrative form look like? This could be seen as a kind of laboratory test. Otherwise, frankly speaking, the logic of creating smaller provinces is not clear to me. The local government system is already very strong in theory; it just needs proper implementation”.
He noted that senior political figures, including Rana Sanaullah, have frequently suggested that Pakistan must choose between a highly empowered local government system or the creation of smaller administrative units, positioning the Islamabad plan as a practical prototype to test the efficacy of these approaches.
When addressing whether this model would lead to the creation of more provinces in regions like Sindh, Malick attributed the systemic delays to the internal power dynamics of major political parties.
“Ultimately, they will be created, but my view is that political parties here are not really traditional parties, they function more like families,” Malick observed, noting that the Pakistan Peoples Party is controlled by the Bhutto family and the PML-N by the Sharif family.
“We will see how long they can delay this,” Malick remarked. “They are not even allowing strong local governments because that reduces their power. So I feel what is happening in Islamabad seems like a starting signal. It may be a good model if done properly, but the planning behind it doesn’t look very straightforward. It feels like a test model being developed to compare different approaches and see which one works better”.
