HYDERABAD: Federal Minis­ter for Education Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has said that the Afghans living in Pakistan must return to their country now when peace has been restored there.

These immigrants were supposed to stay in refugee camps but they were living in cities, he observed.

Siddiqui was speaking to the media at the Hyderabad Institute for Technology and Management Sciences (HITMS) after a ceremony for the inauguration of Fin-Tech and celebration of ‘1st year of academic excellence’.

He said Pakistan was facing its own issues and Afghan government must realise it.

He said Afghans’ repatriation should begin from Karachi first because the Sindh capital has its own sensitivities. He wondered why Pakistan is unable to take practical steps to ensure their repatriation. He said that he cannot comment on something which is beyond his domain and which directly pertains to the ‘state’.

Answering a question, he said that federal coalition partners were ‘allies’, not ‘relatives’; they could have divergent views. He said he wished that the government complete its five-year term.

The federal minister was critical of Hyderabad mayor’s statement about Rs60bn expenditure on development works in the city. He smilingly remarked “whether these 60 ‘Arabs’ came from Saudi Arabia”. He avoided commenting on proposed 27th constitutional amendment, saying that his party would see what kind of arrangement was there in the amendment for the cities where MQM-P has mandate. Only then his party would take a decision on the proposed amendment.

He said that the number of districts and divisions was increased for administrative reasons and that the number of provinces could also be increased with rise in population. He recalled that former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had also incorporated an Article in the Constitution about new provinces.

“Britishers had created provinces on ethnic grounds but MQM-P wants provinces to be created on administrative lines,” he explained.

Earlier, addressing the ceremony, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that world had become a global village and condition of ‘degree’ had been done away with at many destinations. “One wonders whether he / she is watching TV or TV is watching him / her,” he remarked. He said that he would ask [the HITMS] rector to produce knowledge and wisdom while imparting education at the institute.

Hyderabad should have multiple universities by now as it was once Pakistan’s third largest city. He was glad to note that 100 acres had been given to the institute. He said that he would be glad to hear that jobs were chasing those graduating from this institute instead of the students chasing jobs. He said progress always covered a region, and not a particular country. He said that Pakistan would progress but people would have to ensure quality education for their children.

He said it’s an irony that while Pakistanis are perturbed over population increase, the developed world is worried for ‘population’. He said MQM-P would approach federal government for a census after five years.

He noted: “We live in a society and in a province where some people want that we should not get education”.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2025