Decision on New Administrative Units Must Rest with the Public, Not Governments or Political Parties: Mohsin Naqvi
LAHORE: Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said that the decision on creating new administrative units and provinces should be made by the will of the people and not by any one government or political party.
Mohsin Naqvi clarified in his earlier remarks about ‘system resets’ that his remarks were not against any political party or arrangement. He said there’s no need to do anything to the system to reset it, but to fix structural issues that have been around for decades.
“These changes must be implemented within the limits of the Constitution, in accordance with general public and political agreement,” he added. The Interior Minister noted that governance reforms have been ongoing for decades, but the country has not seen the expected governance results despite the various governments and policies. Naqvi pointed out that, “Pakistan has become the fifth most populous country in the world, but when ever the subject of devolution of power to grassroots level into the new administrative units comes up, unnecessary objections are raised, and it will not be tolerated anymore.
Expressing his strong support for Islamabad as a province, Naqvi reiterated his support for the administrative restructuring and said that he was fully prepared to see Islamabad being established as a separate province. He noted that people of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) do not get any part of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, neither do they get direct allocation from the national budget. To those who have shown positive attitude towards administrative reforms, Naqvi assured them that they should not lose the positivity, and he strongly believed that new units will be created in the future.
He finally decided that one man or one party would not be able to stop a reform movement that is in line with the inner desires of the people at large.