Hold a referendum on new provinces and let the people decide, says Mohsin Naqvi after meeting Zardari

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has proposed a referendum to settle the debate over creating new administrative units and provinces, saying the public’s verdict should decide the matter. Speaking to reporters at the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in Lahore on Thursday, he said that if the people did not want new provinces, he was “100 per cent with them”, and if they did, the provinces should be created. Hours later, he flew to Nawabshah for a late-night meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari.

‘Nearly on the same page’ as Bilawal

Naqvi said he and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were “nearly on the same page” on resetting the system. Bilawal had called on Tuesday for a “political reset” and unity among political parties. The interior minister said Bilawal had spoken of resetting the political system, while his own proposal concerned an “overall reset”. He stressed that nothing would be done against the will of the coalition partners and that any decision would come only with everyone’s consensus.

Nearly an hour with the president in Nawabshah

According to sources, Naqvi arrived in Nawabshah aboard a special aircraft on Thursday night and met the president at Zardari House for around 59 minutes. The meeting is said to have covered the new-provinces proposal, the possibility of a referendum and matters concerning the JUI-F. Sources claimed Naqvi had travelled carrying an “important message from a senior national figure”. No official statement has been issued about the meeting so far.

A debate running since July

Naqvi first raised the need for new administrative units on July 31 at the Pakistan Economic Summit, arguing that the governance system had “collapsed”. The Sindh Assembly passed a resolution on September 4 rejecting any division of the province, and the PPP insists any new province must go through the constitutional and parliamentary process with political consensus. Legal experts note that a referendum alone cannot create a province — a constitutional amendment, including approval by the relevant provincial assembly, would still be required.