Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday said Pakistan’s existing governance system could no longer address the country’s challenges, calling for sweeping reforms and the creation of new administrative units or provinces to improve public service delivery.

Addressing the Pakistan Economic Summit in Islamabad, Naqvi said the country’s current system had effectively “collapsed” and required a complete reset to resolve long-standing structural problems.

“Whether people accept it or not, the system has collapsed,” he said. “If this system continues, we will still be discussing the same issues 10 years from now.”

Naqvi said participants at the summit had not only identified the country’s key economic and governance challenges but had also proposed practical solutions.

He acknowledged that policymakers themselves shared responsibility for Pakistan’s current situation and stressed that meaningful reforms, rather than temporary measures, were needed to achieve lasting progress.

The interior minister said he remained a strong supporter of democracy but argued that democratic governance must also evolve through institutional reforms.

He said devolving powers to the grassroots level and establishing new administrative units — whether described as provinces or by another name — could help address governance issues more effectively.

Naqvi also pointed to the country’s youth, saying they primarily sought employment opportunities but were often deprived of even this basic need.

“We cannot solve problems by distributing a few thousand rupees or tablets,” he said, adding that policymakers needed to address underlying issues and ensure opportunities for young people through sincere reforms.

He also remarked that Pakistan’s international image had improved in recent years, but emphasised that substantial domestic reforms remained necessary to strengthen governance and economic stability.

Warning against complacency, Naqvi said delayed reforms could worsen the country’s challenges, expressing hope that timely decisions and decentralisation would help put Pakistan on a more sustainable path.