He admits that the system has collapsed and is no longer capable of providing justice to the common man and employment to the youth.
Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi addresses Pakistan Economic Summit—PHOTO VIA
Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday said Pakistan’s existing governance system had collapsed and was no longer capable of addressing the country’s challenges, and called for administrative reforms, including creation of new administrative units, echoing the demand raised by various political parties to create more provinces for better governance.
In his speech at the first Pakistan Economic Summit in Islamabad, the Home Minister said: “The system we live in has collapsed. You have been dragging this system for 70 years, and although we all want democracy, there are many forms within democracy. The problems cannot be solved by the current administration.”
“If this system continues, in a decade we will still be sitting here discussing the same issues. The only solution is to take [the matter of] administrative units, provinces or whatever you call it, to the public,” he stated.
“Everyone who is part of the current political system and finances it is 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 claimed that the system could not deliver timely justice to the people of Pakistan despite the establishment of new courts, adding that the administrative units will have to be brought to the village level so that the common man can get justice.
Referring to the prime minister, Naqvi said that “working 18 hours a day is equivalent to putting out fires and unless the foundations of this country are fixed in a democratic spirit, it will continue to function as it has for 70 years.”
“Young people only want one thing, which is a job based on merit, but we are not able to give them opportunities; if these cockroaches rise, they can ruin everything,” he also noted.
READ: What’s behind India’s “cockroach” youth protests?
The minister further said that Pakistan’s growing debt burden required urgent attention and warned that continued borrowing without reforms would worsen the country’s economic challenges.
“No matter how many seminars are held, the only solution is for political parties to sit on the other side of 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 bigger role in formulating economic policies, 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, and declared that it will now take its fight from parliament to the streets after exhausting constitutional and democratic avenues.
Reiterating the MQM-P’s long-standing demand, federal minister and MQM-P leader Mustafa Kamal said the country’s governance structure required greater decentralization and called for the creation of new provinces.
“Pakistan can no longer be governed under the current system in which power is transferred to only four provinces,” he stressed.
He argued that powers should reach local communities “at their doorsteps” and said city issues such as sanitation, water supply, roads, master planning and waste management should not be controlled from the ministerial level.
READ MORE: The MQM-P intensifies the push to the ‘new provinces’
