President’s London tour sets tongues wagging

ISLAMABAD: Amid the ongoing debate over the creation of new provinces and the PPP’s outright rejection of the proposal, President Asif Ali Zardari’s extended presence in London has raised questions about the political dimensions of the tour, particularly when Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who had recently floated the idea, is also in the UK. While some believe the president travelled to Lon­don solely for a medical check-up, others view the visit as a political move aimed at putting pressure on the government.

An official video clip of Mr Naqvi’s meeting with President Zardari also generated discussion about the president’s position. After all, it was the interior minister who ignited the fresh debate through his diatribe about the collapse of the existing governance sys­tem, and called for a ‘reset’. Following his London sojourn, Mr Naqvi rece­ntly doubled down on his dem­and for new administrative units. Addressing a National Policy Dia­logue on ‘Devol­ution of Powers and Good Governance in Pakistan’ at the University of Management and Tech­n­o­logy on Saturday, Mr Naqvi clarified that his proposed “reset” did not mean a change of government or political party, rather a…