Admits the system has collapsed and is no longer capable of delivering justice to the common man, jobs to the youth
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi addresses the Pakistan Economic Summit—PHOTO VIA X
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday said that Pakistan’s existing governance system had collapsed and was no longer capable of addressing the country’s challenges, calling for administrative reforms, including the creation of new administrative units, echoing the demand put forward by several political parties to create more provinces for better governance.
Addressing the first Pakistan Economic Summit in Islamabad, the interior minister said: “The system we are living under has collapsed. 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.”
“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 matter of] administrative units, provinces or whatever you may call it, to the public,” he stated.
“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.” Naqvi said.
He stated that the system was not able to dispense timely justice to the people of Pakistan despite the establishment of new courts, adding that administrative units will have to be taken to the people’s level so that the common man can secure justice.
Referring to the premier, Naqvi said that “working for 18 hours a day amounts to firefighting, and unless you fix the basics of this country in the democratic spirit, it will continue functioning as it has for 70 years.”
“The youth want only one thing, which is employment on merit, but we are not able to provide opportunities to them; if these cockroaches rise, they can overturn everything,” he also noted.
READ: What’s behind India’s ‘cockroach’ youth protests?
The minister further said Pakistan’s growing debt burden required urgent attention, warning that continued borrowing without reforms would 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 favour of Pakistan’s national interest,” Naqvi added.
The minister said the business community should play a greater role in economic policymaking, adding that the economy could not improve without their active participation.
Earlier, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) called for the creation of new provinces across the country, particularly in Sindh, declaring that it will now take its struggle from parliament to the streets after exhausting constitutional and democratic avenues.
Reiterating MQM-P’s longstanding demand, federal minister and MQM-P leader Mustafa Kamal said the country’s governance structure required further decentralisation and called for the creation of new provinces.
“Pakistan can no longer be run under the current system wherein power devolves only to four provinces,” he underscored.
He argued that powers should reach local communities “at their doorsteps” and said city affairs such as sanitation, water supply, roads, master planning and waste management should not be controlled from the ministerial level.
READ MORE: MQM-P steps up ‘new province’ push
