Pakistan minister admits ‘system has collapsed’, Munir pushes for more provinces | Gravitas

Since the ouster of Imran Khan's government in 2022, Pakistan army chief Asim Munir has been in the driving seat for all purposes. Earlier this year, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif himself admitted that his country is being run by a 'hybrid regime'. However, as Pakistan remains in turmoil, the cracks within the Munir-led regime are widening.

The first salvo came from none other than Pakistan’s own interior minister Mohsin Naqvi.

Addressing an economic conclave, he made it clear that the current governance structure in Pakistan had collapsed. What followed was even more intriguing.

He openly advocated creation of more provinces or administrative units to improve governance, even though this is not on the agenda of the ruling PML-N government. However, this was not his individual opinion.

Endorsing Naqvi’s statement, the Pakistani military openly questioned the lack of good governance, and linked it to the alleged inability of four provinces to cater to the growing population of Pakistan.

While various political parties have demanded the creation of new provinces in the past, Naqvi’s intervention is significant as he is perceived to be very close to the military establishment.

From 2023 to 2024, he served as the Caretaker CM of Punjab. Although he was elected to the country’s senate as an independent candidate, Naqvi was surprisingly inducted as the interior minister by PML-N.

This is not all.

Naqvi has been Munir’s trusted aide in furthering Pakistan’s so-called role as a mediator in the current West Asia crisis.

For instance, Naqvi has often visited Iran, as well as US as part of the mediation efforts. But, why is the demand for new provinces politically sensitive?

This is also seen as a move to marginalise PML-N and PPP which are two of the country’s two largest parties.

Basically, PML-N and PPP derive their electoral strength from Punjab and Sindh respectively. They have consistently opposed this demand owing to their concern that any change to provincial boundaries could impact their political future. For instance, PPP has been against making Karachi a federal territory, and PML-N has opposed creation of a south Punjab province as it may benefit PPP and Imran Khan-led PTI.

A key question arises though. What is the sudden trigger for Munir’s push to have more provinces?

Is there a possible US angle to this? The strategic location of Balochistan is key, as it shares a 900 kilometre-long border with Iran. Considering that China already has a presence and massive investments in Balochistan, a bifurcation of the province may help provide a possible land corridor for US from Balochistan to Iran.

This speculation also comes in wake of America’s growing interest in Balochistan, which has vast natural resources.

At the White House last year, Munir showed off rare earth mineral potential of the region to Trump.

Subsequently, the US Export-Import Bank approved financing of 1.25 billion US dollars to support the mining of critical minerals at Reko Diq in Balochistan.

As per the US envoy to Pakistan, this project would help create an estimated 7,500 jobs in the province. Now, the divide in Pakistan’s ruling class comes at a time when chaos is escalating.

In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the second round of the so-called elections was also mired in controversy over the brutal crackdown on civilians and allegations of rigging.

On the other hand, 17 people including security personnel were killed in a suicide bombing on a police station, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s SWAT region.

The incident took place when a peace rally was underway.

This raises another key question.

Can the army’s push for more provinces prove to be a beginning of the end for the bonhomie between Munir and the Sharifs?

However, with any change to the provincial boundaries, requiring approval by a two-thirds majority in the assemblies, creation of new provinces will be anything but easy.