New Administrative Units: Mohsin Naqvi says public opinion must decide

LAHORE: New administrative units should be created according to public opinion, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said, arguing that no individual or political party should be able to prevent changes supported by the people.

Speaking at the National Policy Dialogue in Lahore, Mr Naqvi said he would stand by his position regardless of whether he remained in government.

He said he had called for a “reset” of the system more than a month ago, but his remarks had been interpreted by some as criticism of the government or the political system. He clarified that he had not targeted any particular political party.

Defence Day: Zardari and Shehbaz pay tribute to Pakistan’s martyrs and veterans

The minister said organisations regularly review their structure when they fail to deliver results and argued that Pakistan also needed to examine its system after 79 years.

He said a reset did not mean dismantling the system but correcting its shortcomings. Administrative reforms, he added, should remain within the Constitution and reflect the will of the people.

Mr Naqvi pointed to problems in education, healthcare, access to clean drinking water and the justice system as evidence that Pakistan needed better governance.

He said even some fifth-grade students could not read ordinary sentences, while millions of children remained out of school. He also cited limited access to clean drinking water and the large number of pending court cases as challenges facing the country.

The minister said parents continued to struggle to secure healthcare for their children, while young people were demanding employment and greater opportunities.

Mr Naqvi also expressed strong support for making Islamabad a province. He argued that Islamabad’s residents did not receive a direct share of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and questioned whether the capital’s citizens should be treated differently from other Pakistanis.

He said the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was selling its land to finance the city’s affairs and suggested that provincial status could provide a more effective governance structure.

“If Islamabad is made a province, everyone should come together to support it,” he said, adding that an elected mayor could potentially run the capital more effectively.

Referring to international examples, including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Mr Naqvi said political leaders with similar backgrounds would eventually emerge regardless of how the system was structured.

He cautioned against emotional reactions to the debate over new provinces and administrative units, saying no immediate decision was expected.

“The opinion of the people carries greater importance than that of political actors,” he said, urging stakeholders to approach the issue calmly.

Mr Naqvi said the people were the biggest stakeholders in any decision to create new provinces and administrative units.

He called for national consensus and said political parties, the government and parliament should sit together with relevant stakeholders before making any decision.

The interior minister also rejected the idea of dividing provinces along linguistic, ethnic or caste lines.

He said creating southern or northern Punjab would not change people’s identities, arguing that a person from Punjab would remain Punjabi and a person from Sindh would remain Sindhi.

The central objective, he said, should be to bring better governance and decision-making closer to ordinary citizens.