{"id":113307,"date":"2025-10-04T18:48:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T13:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=113307"},"modified":"2025-10-04T18:48:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T13:48:40","slug":"indus-conclave-2025-miftah-ismail-builds-case-for-more-provinces-for-better-governance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/","title":{"rendered":"Indus Conclave 2025: Miftah Ismail builds case for more provinces for better governance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LAHORE(National times)- Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated that matters would not improve until powers are transferred to the grassroots level while emphasizing that if decentralization is not possible, then new provinces should be created. Speaking during a panel discussion on social sector development on the second day of the Indus Conclave, Miftah Ismail remarked that while faces in Pakistan have changed, development has not. He stressed that if governance is not functioning properly, then it must be reformed. &#8220;Pakistan has not been running well for a long time. The government has never truly delivered, nor provided quality education or healthcare.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>27 Million Children Out of School<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The former finance minister highlighted that in the past six years, taxes have increased while income has declined. &#8220;There are 27 million children out of school \u2014 11 million in Punjab and 7 million in Sindh.&#8221; He added that since 2019, Pakistan&#8217;s Human Development Index has dropped by six points. &#8220;The government collects taxes but fails to provide basic services. We have failed in education and healthcare. India and Bangladesh have surpassed us. Purchasing power in Pakistan is declining rapidly.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Police System Is Broken<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said that over the past three years, the nation has become poorer. &#8220;We are regressing compared to every country. Our police system is broken. We have the highest electricity and gas rates in the region. Major companies are exiting Pakistan.&#8221; Miftah Ismail also criticized the focus of government advertising: &#8220;Leaders dominate advertisements, but there&#8217;s never a campaign on population control. He reiterated Pakistan&#8217;s governance has failed \u2014 the structure itself is broken and needs reform.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LAHORE(National times)- Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated that matters would not improve until powers are transferred to the grassroots level while emphasizing that if decentralization is not possible, then new provinces should be created. Speaking during a panel discussion on social sector development on the second day of the Indus Conclave, Miftah Ismail remarked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Indus Conclave 2025: Miftah Ismail builds case for more provinces for better governance - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indus Conclave 2025: Miftah Ismail builds case for more provinces for better governance - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LAHORE(National times)- Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated that matters would not improve until powers are transferred to the grassroots level while emphasizing that if decentralization is not possible, then new provinces should be created. Speaking during a panel discussion on social sector development on the second day of the Indus Conclave, Miftah Ismail remarked [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-04T13:48:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-670x370-68.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/\",\"name\":\"Indus Conclave 2025: Miftah Ismail builds case for more provinces for better governance - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-670x370-68.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-04T13:48:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-670x370-68.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-670x370-68.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Indus Conclave 2025: Miftah Ismail builds case for more provinces for better governance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Indus Conclave 2025: Miftah Ismail builds case for more provinces for better governance - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/113307\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Indus Conclave 2025: Miftah Ismail builds case for more provinces for better governance - Nation","og_description":"LAHORE(National times)- Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated that matters would not improve until powers are transferred to the grassroots level while emphasizing that if decentralization is not possible, then new provinces should be created. 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