Nawaz Sharif has clearly told senior PML-N leaders to stay silent in public about Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s recent comments calling the country’s system “collapsed.” The former prime minister believes Pakistan’s current challenges require full unity between the elected government and state institutions, especially the strong working relationship between the civilian setup and the military leadership.
According to sources, Nawaz Sharif stressed that nothing should create even a slight impression of differences between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir. He highlighted that the present level of coordination between the two sides is valuable and must be protected at all costs. National interests, he said, demand complete institutional harmony so the country can jointly tackle its economic, political and security problems.
Several senior PML-N leaders had expressed their discomfort privately. They felt that if Mohsin Naqvi truly had concerns about governance failures or weaknesses in the administrative system, those matters should have been raised inside the federal cabinet instead of at a public event. By describing the system as “collapsed” in public, the interior minister had, in their view, unintentionally questioned the effectiveness of the prime minister’s own efforts to improve governance.
Some party figures also believed the remarks left an impression that meaningful reform was impossible under the current administrative structure, no matter how hard the government tried. They considered this message politically damaging and unnecessary.
Despite these internal feelings, sources firmly rejected any idea of a rift between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. They insisted that the civil and military leadership remain fully on the same page regarding Pakistan’s main priorities. These include economic recovery, national security, attracting investment and pushing governance reforms. Speculation about differences between the two sides was dismissed as baseless.
Nawaz Sharif’s message to his party was simple and firm: avoid public reactions, protect institutional unity, and keep the focus on the country’s bigger challenges. In the present circumstances, he believes continuity of close coordination between the government and military leadership is essential for stability and progress.
