FEDERAL Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s statement that “whether anyone accepts it or not, our system has collapsed or failed” cannot simply be dismissed as routine political rhetoric. However it is qualified or explained away, one fact remains: a senior and powerful member of the government has publicly acknowledged that the existing system is failing. That makes the statement significant. This is not criticism from an opposition leader, a commentator or a frustrated citizen. It comes from someone who is himself part of the governing structure and directly involved in exercising state authority.

When someone at the centre of power concedes that the system is no longer delivering the results expected of it, the discussion should not end with the admission. That is where the real discussion must begin. Why has the system failed? Who is responsible? And, most importantly, what will now be done to fix it? No state system collapses overnight. Institutions do not suddenly become dysfunctional, the rule of law does not disappear in a single day and public confidence in the state is not destroyed by one isolated event.

Pakistan’s predicament cannot be attributed exclusively to one government, one political party or one institution. Its history shows what happens when constitutional boundaries become blurred, institutions move beyond their prescribed roles, the law is........

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