Bureaucratic Reform Must Precede Creation of New Provinces: Law Minister

TAXILA: Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Ageel Malik has said that the creation of new provinces or administrative units alone cannot resolve Pakistan’s governance problems, stressing that comprehensive bureaucratic reforms must come before any such move.

Speaking to journalists during the inauguration of a private business centre in Wah Cantt, the minister said administrative reform had become an urgent necessity and that Pakistan could not achieve sustainable progress without restructuring the existing bureaucratic system.

“Creating new provinces or additional administrative units will not, by itself, solve governance problems,” he said.

Mr Malik stressed that meaningful bureaucratic reforms were essential to improving public service delivery and making government institutions more efficient. He said the distribution of authority, responsibility and accountability within the state machinery needed to be redefined to ensure that public complaints were addressed promptly and institutions functioned effectively.

The minister said the national economy was gradually moving towards stability, with improvements recorded in several areas. He added that the government was pursuing further reforms and policy measures to consolidate these gains.

Mr Malik said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir were playing an important role in efforts to strengthen the economy and steer the country towards economic transformation.

He, however, cautioned that economic stability was not a one-time achievement but a continuous process requiring consistent policies, long-term planning and structural reforms.

On Pakistan’s foreign policy, Mr Ageel said the country had played an important diplomatic role in efforts to ease tensions between the United States and Iran.

Turning to the Kashmir elections and the political situation, the minister described the exchange of statements among political parties as a normal feature of democratic politics.

Responding to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s remarks about the “countdown” of the PML-N, he said Rana Sanaullah had already responded to the statement.

The minister said the political situation would become clearer after the completion of all phases of the Kashmir electoral process at the end of August. He added that he believed the PPP could also face a political “countdown” thereafter.

Commenting on remarks attributed to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Mr Ageel said Mr Naqvi remained a member of the government and continued to perform his duties as federal interior minister.

He said the remarks had been “taken out of context” and maintained that shortcomings in the existing system were already well known.