KARACHI: A day after Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) conducted an entrance test for thousands of students for teaching them free of cost information technology courses, the Karachi-based Federal IT and Telecom Minister Aminul Haque came under criticism by his own party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), for doing nothing of this sort for the youths of the metropolis.

Al-Khidmat, JI’s charity wing, has offered courses in web and app development, graphic designing, digital marketing, etc for which it organised a test at Bagh-i-Jinnah on Wednesday. JI’s candidate for Karachi mayor and city party chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman also spoke to the students and vowed to make Karachi a leading IT city in the region.

Sources said that the success of the JI event and a huge participation by Karachi youth has triggered a debate within the MQM-P. Many of its important leaders pointed an accusing finger at their own IT & Telecom minister for failing to use his ministry for the benefit of the people of Karachi and Hyderabad, said the sources.

“We [MQM-P] are doing nothing for our people. Amin Bhai held the portfolio of IT and Telecom in PTI tenure and now he holds the same ministry in the PML-N rule, but what he has done for Karachiites so far is not known,” said an MQM-P leader privy to the internal discussion over the matter.

He also praised the JI initiative, Bano Qabil, for city youth, but said: “They [JI] also have political motives but at least they are doing something.”

He said soon the MQM-P would come up with major skill development initiatives that would lead to creation of employment opportunities for people of urban areas.

Dawn tried to contact Mr Haque over the phone but to no avail.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2022