Sir: It has been reported in the print media that a decision has been taken to form vigilance committees at Union Council (UC) level so as to tackle terrorism. Successive governments’ seriousness to tackle terrorism and extremism can be judged from the fact that they did not conduct local body elections that act as a nursery for democracies in any civilized country. This lip service from the government of the Punjab cannot tackle extremism and terrorism. On the one hand the government is not arranging local body elections and on the other hand they are talking about formation of vigilance committees at local level. In the political history of Pakistan, local body elections are the hallmark of military governments, which suit them because they want legitimacy through local governments. They don’t want local governments for the people of Pakistan but for their legitimacy. In Europe, local governments provide facilities to the masses at the local level and they provide such a robust system through which all problems are resolved at the lower level. Though extremism and terrorism cannot be eradicated completely through formation of such committees, yet it would prove helpful in curtailing other crimes. First of all, the government should conduct transparent local body elections as directed by the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In short, local governments can prove to be an effective tool in eradicating extremism and terrorism to some extent. MUHAMMAD IMRAN Lahore