ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday called for creating new administrative units to bring government closer to citizens, arguing that the country’s governance system had “collapsed” and required broad political consensus to reset it.
Proposals to create new provinces or administrative units have long been politically contentious in Pakistan, where the country is divided into four provinces and changes to provincial boundaries require constitutional amendments and broad political agreement. Supporters argue smaller administrative units would improve governance and public service delivery, while opponents fear they could fuel ethnic and political divisions.
Speaking in televised remarks, Naqvi said Pakistan’s decades-old administrative structure was no longer equipped to meet the needs of a growing population and that decision-making had to be devolved to bring government closer to ordinary citizens.
“This system, in which we are living, has collapsed, whether you believe it or not,” Naqvi said. “Administrative units, provinces, whatever name you give it, it will have to be taken to the level of the people.”
He said many Pakistanis were still forced to travel long distances to access courts and government offices, arguing the state had failed to provide basic public services close to where people lived.
“A common man ... he needs his basic facility. He needs an interaction with his government, which we are not able to give.”
Naqvi urged political parties to set aside their differences and reach a national consensus on governance reforms.
“All political parties will have to sit in one room, whether they sit for a day or a month or a year,” he said. “They will have to take these new units, from the provinces, and settle each issue of their country.”
To support his case for decentralization, Naqvi said India had expanded from 14 states at independence to 29, while Indonesia had also created more administrative units over time.
It was not immediately clear whether Naqvi was expressing a personal view or signaling broader thinking within the government on governance reforms. The interior minister, who is widely regarded by political observers as being close to Pakistan’s military establishment, did not say whether he was advocating the creation of new provinces or another form of devolved administration, using the terms “administrative units” and “provinces” interchangeably throughout his speech.
The interior minister also described Pakistan’s fiscal model as unsustainable, saying successive governments had relied on borrowing instead of structural reforms.
“When we make our budget, they make it in negative,” he said. “We are only doing firefighting.”
Naqvi also criticized what he described as an overreliance on welfare measures for young people, arguing they wanted employment opportunities instead.
“They are not asking for a tablet, or 2-4 thousand rupees a month,” he said. “They only ask for one thing... that we should get jobs on merit, and job opportunities.”
