Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday declared the “collapse” of Pakistan’s existing governance system, maintaining that it is no longer capable of addressing the country’s challenges and requires the creation of more provinces or “administrative units” to address the crisis.
“The system we are living under has collapsed,” he told the Pakistan Economic Summit in Islamabad. “You have been dragging this system for 70 years, and while we all want democracy, there are many forms within democracy. Problems cannot be solved through the current dispensation,” he added.
“If this system continues, we will still be sitting here a decade from now discussing the same issues. The only solution is to take [the issue of] administrative units, provinces or whatever you may call it, to the public,” he continued. “All those who are part of the current political system and fund it are present here. Not everything in this system is bad, but the common man needs the provision of basic services and facilities, which are not delivered,” he claimed.
Maintaining that the present system was unable to dispense timely justice, he said any proposed new administrative units would have to reach grassroots to ensure justice for the common man. Praising Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for working 12-14 hours a day, he said this amounted to “firefighting” without measures to fix the country’s basic structure.
He pointed to persistent policy failures, noting Pakistan remained dependent on imported agricultural products, including wheat, despite being an agricultural country. He lamented that even internationally recognized diplomatic achievements were temporary unless the country’s institutional foundations were reformed. “Until you correct the basics of this country while adhering to the spirit of democracy, this will remain the same,” he said.
Naqvi also referred to the country’s youth bulge, noting they solely wanted employment on merit and not stipends or laptops, a reference to programs introduced by the PPP and PMLN government in Sindh and Punjab, respectively. “We are not able to provide opportunities to them; if these cockroaches rise, they can overturn everything,” he said, referring to India’s ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ which recently protested in Delhi for educational reforms.
The interior minister further noted that Pakistan’s growing debt burden required urgent attention, warning that continued borrowing without reforms would only worsen the country’s economic challenges. “No matter how many seminars you conduct, the only solution is that political parties sit across the table and set aside their political differences in favor of Pakistan’s national interest,” he said, noting this meant all major political parties, including the PPP, PMLN, and the PTI.
Naqvi urged the business community to play a greater role in economic policymaking, adding the economy could not improve without their active participation. He noted that business leaders regularly financed political candidates and shared responsibility for sustaining the existing political order. “One gives funding of Rs. 500 million before elections, or the other gives Rs. 100 million or Rs. 50 million,” he said, adding meaningful changes was possible if the business community collectively decided to support systemic reform.
The demand for new provinces has been circulating in Pakistan for several years, gaining new momentum over the past year, with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan in particularly demanding the breakup of existing boundaries to decentralize power.
No presidential system
Later, in an informal engagement with journalists, Naqvi reiterated that the efforts of the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir would not yield lasting results unless politicians worked together to reform Pakistan’s governance system.
“Unless politicians fix the country’s system, the field marshal’s hard work will be of no benefit,” he said, while stressing democracy would not be derailed. He maintained the current government would complete its constitutional term and ruled out a presidential system. To a question, he also said that incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s incarceration could only be address by courts and not the government.