Admits that the system has collapsed and is no longer capable of providing justice to ordinary citizens and providing jobs to young people
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi addresses Pakistan Economic Summit—PHOTO VIA
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday that Pakistan’s existing system of governance had collapsed and was no longer capable of meeting 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 Pakistan’s first economic summit in Islamabad, the interior minister said: “The system we live in has collapsed. You’ve had this system for 70 years, and while we all want democracy, there are many forms of democracy. The problems cannot be solved by the current system.
“If this system continues, we will still be sitting here in ten years discussing the same problems. The only solution is to take [the matter of] administrative units, provinces or whatever you can call them, to the public,” he said.
“All those who are part of the current political system and who finance it are present here. Not everything is bad in this system, but the common man needs basic services and amenities, which are not provided.” Naqvi said.
He said the system was not able to provide timely justice to the people of Pakistan despite the establishment of new courts, adding that administrative units will have to be brought to the people’s level so that the common man can get justice.
Referring to the prime minister, Naqvi said that “working 18 hours a day is like fighting fire, and unless you repair the foundations of this country in a democratic spirit, it will continue to function as it has for 70 years.”
“Young people only want one thing, and that is a job on merit, but we are not able to offer them opportunities; if these cockroaches stand up, they can turn everything upside down,” he also stressed.
READ: What is behind the demonstrations of young “cockroaches” in India?
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 organize, the only solution is for political parties to sit around the table and put aside their political differences in favor of Pakistan’s national interest,” Naqvi added.
The minister said the business community should play a greater role in economic policy making, adding that the economy could not improve without their active participation.
Earlier, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had called for the creation of new provinces across the country, especially in Sindh, saying it would now take its struggle from Parliament to the streets after exhausting constitutional and democratic avenues.
Reiterating the long-standing demand of the MQM-P, federal minister and MQM-P leader Mustafa Kamal said the country’s governance structure required further decentralization and called for the creation of new provinces.
“Pakistan can no longer be ruled under the current system in which power is delegated to only four provinces,” he stressed.
He argued that powers should reach local communities “at their doorsteps” and said city affairs such as sanitation, water supply, roads, general planning and waste management should not be controlled at ministerial level.
LEARN MORE: The MQM-P intensifies its “new province” campaign
