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FEDERAL Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi deserves praise for speaking in public what we all concede in private — that Pakistan is heading for a political and economic crisis unless we fundamentally change our course. Policymakers, legislatures, and career politicians see the crisis coming, but their private interests prevent them from broaching the subject.
It fell to a relatively newcomer to break the silence. The minister must be credited for casting the first stone. The minister highlighted two key failures. An ineffective state that cannot deliver basic services to its citizens and an anaemic economy that cannot generate sufficient tax revenues to finance the federal budget. The two problems have been festering for decades.
Successive democratic governments adopted the politically sensible strategy of ‘kicking the can down the road’. Now the problems have reached crisis proportions. In his warning shot, the minister beseeched the politicians to avert the impending catastrophe by jointly finding a solution.
The governance crisis is evident, most tragically, in the number of terrorist incidents. In 2026, Pakistan ranked first on the Global Terrorism Index, and was “the country most impacted by terrorism”. It is also one of the top 10 countries facing acute food shortages. According to the World Health Organisation, up to 55 per cent of Pakistan’s population lacks safely managed potable water. Because of malnutrition, nearly 40pc of children under five suffer from stunting. Nearly 36pc of school-age children are out of school.
