ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday renewed his call for a “reset” of the country’s decades-old administrative system and argued for creating new administrative units, though he said any such restructuring must be decided by the public and carried out through political consensus and within the constitution.

Naqvi, who is widely regarded as close to Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, first stirred debate on the issue in July when he said the country’s governance system had “collapsed” and called for smaller administrative units to bring government closer to citizens. The proposal is politically contentious in Pakistan, where attempts to redraw provincial boundaries have historically faced resistance over concerns about identity, resources and political representation.

“Reset does not mean breaking the system,” Naqvi said in a televised address to a conference in Lahore. “Under no circumstances does reset mean breaking the system. Reset means correcting what is wrong.”

“Our administrative structure has completely lost its effectiveness, and its impact is not reaching the general public,” he added. “We all have to accept that this thing requires a reset.”

Naqvi said his earlier remarks had been interpreted as referring to the incumbent government, political arrangement or a particular political party, but said he had instead been talking about an administrative system that had been functioning for 79 years.

His latest comments come amid growing political debate over the issue. The Sindh Assembly this week passed a resolution by majority vote opposing the creation of new provinces and administrative units in Sindh, with Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah saying any attempt to divide the southern province would be unacceptable.

Naqvi on Saturday repeatedly stressed that no restructuring should be imposed by the government or any political party.

“If the people of Pakistan want new administrative units to be created, then they should be created under all circumstances,” he said. “If the people of Pakistan want them not to be created, then there should be no way for these administrative units to be created.”

“This should not be the will of one individual, one government, or one political party. My request is that this decision should please be left to the people of Pakistan,” he added.

Pakistan currently comprises four provinces — Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan — alongside the federally administered Islamabad Capital Territory and other territories with separate constitutional arrangements.

Proposals to create additional provinces or administrative units have surfaced periodically, but remain deeply contentious, particularly in Sindh, where political parties and nationalist groups have long resisted proposals they view as attempts to divide the province.

Naqvi argued that Pakistan’s administrative structure had failed to keep pace with a population that has grown to more than 240 million, saying provinces had become too large to administer effectively from their capitals.

“We are prepared to create tehsils,” he said. “We are prepared to create divisions. We can create districts. But when we talk about administrative units, we say, ‘No, these should not be created.’”

“When it comes to power moving down to the grassroots level, everyone objects to it,” he continued. “This objection needs to be removed.”

The minister said the debate should not be driven by language, ethnicity or regional identity, and argued that creating administrative units would not erase existing provincial identities.

Naqvi also explicitly backed turning Islamabad into a province, arguing residents of the federal capital were disadvantaged because they did not receive a share under the National Finance Commission, which distributes federal revenues among the provinces.

“If a province is to be created, Islamabad is certainly a case where we should all say yes and work together,” he said.

He rejected suggestions that creating additional administrative units would add another layer of costly bureaucracy, saying instead that it would reduce expenditure and improve administration by bringing decision-making closer to communities.

Naqvi called for political parties, the government, opposition, provinces, parliament and experts to examine competing proposals, their financial implications and constitutional requirements before taking any plan to the public.

“We should not be fixed on anything in any way,” he said. “Neither should the maps be decided beforehand, nor should any formula be decided beforehand.”

“The only thing that should be decided beforehand is Pakistan’s interest.”