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INTERIOR Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s speech at a business summit on Thursday has stirred a hornet’s nest. His diagnosis that the present system of governance is collapsing is correct. His call for political parties to sit together and resolve the country’s issues is welcome — although it will depend on the extent to which the government is willing to engage opposition parties. His warning that business as usual will neither deliver prosperity, nor create jobs, nor fix governance failures is also timely. But his proposed cure — creating smaller provinces on administrative grounds — rests on the flawed assumption that such an exercise will automatically bring the government closer to citizens and resolve governance problems. This view is questionable. From time to time, different political parties, including the PPP, PML-N and MQM, have advocated new provinces for different reasons. Indeed, there is no harm in having a national debate to see whether a consensus can emerge. But it must be an inclusive, evidence-based and unrushed process, based on genuine and broad public participation. The exercise would require scrutiny inside and outside parliament, with a focus on economic viability, administrative capacity and resource distribution.
