Islamabad, January 13, 2026: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Punjab Media Advisor Sajjad Ahmed Abbasi has strongly condemned the postponement of local government elections in Islamabad for the fourth time, terming it a blatant violation of Article 140-A of the Constitution, which guarantees empowered local governments.
In a statement, Abbasi said that instead of devolving power to elected representatives, the federal government has handed control over to the bureaucracy by converting the metropolitan city into town corporations, undermining the constitutional mandate of local self-governance. He remarked that political parties which raise slogans of “respect for the vote” are, in practice, reluctant to transfer authority to the people and are deliberately avoiding the local government system.
Sajjad Ahmed Abbasi alleged that collecting crores of rupees from the public in the name of elections and then repeatedly postponing the polls amounts to robbing citizens through state institutions. He said the new local government ordinance introduced by the federal government has violated the basic democratic rights of Islamabad’s residents and trampled the spirit of democracy.
He further claimed that in an effort to evade elections, the Local Government Act has been amended four times so far. According to him, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), sensing electoral defeat, postponed the local government elections for the fourth time through an ordinance.
Abbasi also described the abolition of Metropolitan Corporations and the establishment of town corporations in major cities, including Islamabad and Lahore, as a conspiracy to place public resources under the control of what he termed a corrupt bureaucracy. He emphasized that the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation had played a central role in city-wide planning, execution of major development projects, equitable distribution of resources, and the implementation of uniform local government laws.
He alleged that the government formed on the basis of Form-47 is fearful of empowering the people and said the failure of federal and provincial governments to establish strong and empowered local governments at the grassroots level reflects an undemocratic and anti-people approach.
Concluding his statement, Sajjad Ahmed Abbasi said that Jamaat-e-Islami would continue its struggle to protect the constitutional and democratic rights of the people and would resist all unconstitutional and anti-people measures aimed at weakening Metropolitan Corporations across Punjab, including Islamabad.
