Islamabad, September 22, 2026: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) will hold an “Islamabad Governance and Provincial Status Convention 2026” on September 25 to initiate an inclusive consultation on the future governance structure and status of the federal capital.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi will attend the convention as chief guest, while political representatives from major parties and other stakeholders will also be invited.
Announcing the convention at a press conference on Tuesday, ICCI President Sardar Tahir Mehmood said Islamabad continued to be governed under the 1960 ordinance, introduced when the federal capital was still in its early stages of development.
He said the city’s population was approaching 2.5 million and argued that the existing governance system was facing growing challenges in meeting administrative, urban and service-delivery requirements.
Sardar Tahir said residents lacked an elected and effective forum to seek accountability on issues including sanitation, water supply, traffic management, infrastructure, taxation and municipal services.
He also pointed to overlapping federal and administrative institutions and the absence of an elected mayor since 2021 as issues requiring attention.
“Islamabad needs more than a mayor; it needs a chief executive elected by the people and answerable to their representatives,” he said, while also calling for a transparent financial framework based on the capital’s population, responsibilities and resource requirements.
The ICCI president said various governance models and legal frameworks for Islamabad were currently under discussion, but stressed that residents and other stakeholders should be meaningfully consulted before decisions were taken.
The convention will bring together representatives of the business community, trade associations, bar councils, civil society, academia, professional bodies and residents of Islamabad.
Sardar Tahir said the ICCI was an apolitical platform and that the convention was not intended to support or oppose any political party or particular governance model.
“Our objective is not to support or oppose any political party or particular model. We want all stakeholders to sit together, present their views and contribute to a meaningful roadmap for the future governance of Islamabad,” he said.
He described the convention as a collective effort of Islamabad’s stakeholders and urged broad participation and practical recommendations to make the consultation inclusive and result-oriented.
