Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday that any new administrative units in Pakistan should only be created with the consent of the people.
Speaking at the National Policy Dialogue in Lahore, Naqvi said that resetting the system did not mean dismantling it. Instead, he said, the purpose should be to identify what was not working and change it.
He stressed that any such reforms must be based on political consensus and the will of the people. If the public does not support the creation of new administrative units, he said, they should not be created.
Naqvi said a major administrative change could not be introduced simply because an individual, political party or government wanted it. Public consent, he maintained, must remain central to the process.
The interior minister called for a wider national debate on both the advantages and disadvantages of creating new units. He suggested developing a proposal and presenting it before the public to determine whether people supported it.
Questions about the number of new units and their territorial boundaries should also be examined carefully. Naqvi said their benefits, methods of creation and financial implications needed proper assessment.
He added that parliament, experts and other relevant stakeholders should debate the issue before seeking the public’s opinion.
Referring to his remarks last month, Naqvi clarified that his criticism was not directed at any particular political party. Rather, he was referring to the administrative system that has existed since Pakistan’s independence.
He said any reforms must be carried out according to the Constitution and through democratic means.
Naqvi argued that Pakistan should not accept the idea that it had become incapable of reforming its administrative system. He called on political parties to discuss the issue seriously and said he would continue advocating the idea despite what he described as emotional speeches surrounding the debate on new administrative units.
He also urged politicians to avoid treating the matter emotionally, stressing that such a major transformation could not take place overnight.
According to Naqvi, Pakistan’s existing administrative system has lost much of its effectiveness, with its benefits failing to reach ordinary citizens.
Highlighting governance challenges, he said four out of every 10 children were still not receiving the education they needed, only 55 per cent of the population had access to clean drinking water, and around two million cases remained pending before the courts.
He said these were among the problems the government was seeking to address through administrative reforms.
Naqvi also described himself as the “biggest supporter of Islamabad province” and argued that the federal capital should receive a share under the National Finance Commission Award.
He claimed Islamabad was the only city that did not receive a single rupee from Pakistan’s budget and said granting it provincial status would help secure the rights of its residents.
