ISLAMABAD, AUG 2: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday urged Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to begin efforts to reform the country’s governance system from within the Interior Ministry, saying the entire nation would support meaningful change.
Responding to Naqvi’s recent remarks that Pakistan’s existing governance system had “collapsed” and was no longer capable of addressing the country’s challenges, Asif said in a post on X that he largely agreed with the interior minister’s assessment.
Naqvi, speaking at the Pakistan Economic Summit in Islamabad last week, said the country’s governance system had “collapsed” and warned that Pakistan would continue to face the same challenges over the next decade unless fundamental administrative reforms were introduced.
However, he argued that institutional reforms should be pursued through parliament and the federal cabinet, noting that Naqvi was a member of both forums.
He said strengthening the system and introducing fundamental changes through constitutional processes would help reinforce state institutions.
Asif said the country’s institutional evolution had for decades remained subject to group and personal interests and needed to be freed from such influences.
He added that discussing such major issues before members of the business community, rather than through relevant state institutions, would not carry the same impact.
The defence minister also noted that Naqvi had occupied some of the country’s most powerful positions for the past 3.5 years and could have initiated reform efforts during that period. “Better late than never,” he said.
Referring to the National Action Plan (NAP), Asif said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry had recently highlighted its 13 points.
He said one point assigned to the armed forces was being implemented through sacrifices of lives, while the remaining 12 points fell under the Interior Ministry and had yet to be implemented.
Asif urged Naqvi to begin systemic reform by ensuring implementation of the NAP and introducing changes within his ministry, adding that not only the business community but the entire nation would stand behind such efforts.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Senator Rana Sanaullah also criticised Naqvi’s remarks, saying those who had benefited from the existing system were now claiming it was no longer capable of functioning.
Addressing a public gathering in Hattian Bala, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), on Saturday, Sanaullah said some individuals had achieved in three-and-a-half years what others took decades to accomplish, yet were now arguing that the system could no longer move forward.
He defended Pakistan’s parliamentary democratic framework and said concerns about the system should be debated through democratic institutions rather than used to undermine the parliamentary order.
