FWU Journal of Social Sciences, Special Issue, No.4, Winter 2017, 20-33 18 th Amendment and the Problem of Cohabitation between Bureaucracy and Elected Representatives in Local Government of Pakistan Kalsoom Sumra COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Islamabad Local government in Pakistan is classified as the third tier of government where since 1947, politicians and bureaucracy of every hue, had has redirected all channel of power and physical resources from citizenry, gradually but manifestly. Over the years, a series of amenities at empowerment and control of third tier of government has created a tug of conflicts between local and central/provincial government. After 18 th amendment, the new experiments in local government in each province have created conflicts with divided powers, where the uneasy relationship between civil servants and local elected representatives is assuming complexity. This research aims at examining and evaluating the conflicting turfs between provincial bureaucracy and elected public representatives in local government resulting from politics of devolution of powers (decentralization) from provincial to local governments. For this purpose, this study empirically analyses the views of provincial bureaucracy and the local representatives in four cities (capital of each province) of Pakistan at local government level. The results of the empirical investigation are analyzed qualitatively which demonstrate almost the opposite picture of both civil servants and the political local government. The problem of sharing is knotted in complication between political representatives and provincial bureaucracy and is predisposed by many components like in decentralization process and transfer of functions; responsibilities to local bodies which ultimately affect local governance. The findings are helpful for the concerned authorities to ensure smooth implementation at local level and owing to conflicts between bureaucracy and local representatives; there is dire need for establishing formal arrangement between provincial and local government. Keywords: local government, bureaucracy, civil servants, decentralization, local representatives The polarized environment within the ideological divide, thrust in devolution (decentralization) of powers has been adopted worldwide to guarantee against discretionary use of powers by central or regional elites. Pakistan inherited the British Indian system of governance and the constitution in the post-independence era i , Pakistan established a centralized system of governance on the lines of the Westminster model comprising of four provinces (Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa & Baluchistan). The 1973 constitution of Pakistan is recognized as the supreme law of Pakistan and various amendments are incorporated in it up to now. Thus the remarkable amendment in the constitution is Eighteenth Amendment ii that resolves the issues pertaining to a strong center and weak provinces. Recognizing the Article 140(A) iii of the 1973 Constitution which clearly directs the provinces to establish and devolve the powers at grass root level in shape of local government system (UNDP, Local government Acts, 2013). The eighteenth amendment empowers provincial government to authorize local government and further the provinces have to dissolve financial, political and administrative powers. The historical annals show that local government in Pakistan since independence has been a topsy- turvy affair. Local Government is always thought of, as an obstacle to the centralizing ethos of Pakistan’s political dispensation whether civilian or military; local representation at grass roots is always a belly ache for the government in power, as it is always thought of, as an obstacle to oblige and pamper the pocket constituencies. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Kalsoom Sumra, Assistant professor, Center for Policy Studies, COMSATS University Islamabad, kalsoom.sumra@comsats.edu.pk; kalsoomsumra@gmail.com