Naqvi's reform push fuels political debate

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi's blunt assessment that Pakistan's governance system has "collapsed" and can no longer meet the country's administrative challenges has triggered a sharp political debate, with opposition parties calling it an admission of systemic failure, coalition partners urging caution.

Speaking at the first Pakistan Economic Summit in Islamabad on Thursday, Naqvi urged political parties to pursue structural reforms, including the creation of new administrative units or provinces. The remarks immediately sparked strong reactions across the political spectrum.

JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghauri said Naqvi's remarks amounted to an admission that the country's "hybrid system" had failed, adding that flaws in governance had become evident to the entire country, making Naqvi's statement an indictment of the government itself.

He said JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had repeatedly warned over the past two years that the prevailing system was unsustainable. He questioned who had created the existing system and who should be held accountable for its shortcomings.

PTI also criticised the minister's remarks, although it focused more on the accompanying proposal for new administrative units. Speaking outside Parliament House, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the public deserved to know who had taken the country's governance system into what he described as "default mode". He alleged that institutional decline, economic deterioration and loss of public confidence had accelerated after Pakistan moved away from PTI's "New Pakistan" agenda.

The PPP, a key coalition partner in the federal government, adopted a more measured position while distancing itself from any immediate discussion on creating new provinces. PPP Secretary General Nayyar Bokhari said any shortcomings in governance should be debated in parliament rather than through media statements.

Bokhari said if flaws existed in the existing system, parliament remained the appropriate constitutional forum to address them. He said that any proposal for new provinces would first be discussed by the PPP's Central Executive Committee and emphasised that the Constitution clearly defines the procedure for altering provincial boundaries.

PPP Vice President Sherry Rehman also advised against expanding the debate, saying no formal proposal had been presented before the party. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah went further, rejecting the proposal outright. He described the idea of creating new provinces as an old and repeatedly recycled debate that the people of Sindh had consistently opposed.

Government allies and supporters, however, defended Naqvi's intervention. Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry said the interior minister had merely highlighted the need for political consensus on governance reforms rather than questioning the democratic system itself.

Communications Minister and IPP President Abdul Aleem Khan strongly endorsed Naqvi's proposals. He suggested dividing each of Pakistan's four provinces into three administrative units - North, Central and South - arguing that such a structure would improve service delivery while preserving existing provincial identities.