Naeem vows to transform Karachi into IT hub of country

Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has vowed to transform Karachi into the information technology hub of the country.

He made the vow while addressing the media at the Idara Noor-e-Haq — the Karachi JI headquarters — on Saturday before he visited the venue for interviews in connection with admission of female candidates in the courses under the banner of Bano Qabil 2.0, a project initiated by the JI to impart IT traning to youths.

He said the Bano Qabil programme had turned out to be a beacon of hope for the youth of Karachi.

He said the Alkhidmat's Bano Qabil 2.0 programme offered 15 free-of-charge information technology courses in 35 campuses across the city.

He added that the Bano Qabil initiative had inked an agreement with a globally recognised body for certification, and all the certificate courses under the initiative would also be recognised by the technical education board.

Besides, he said, the candidates who completed three IT courses successfully would be awarded a diploma certificate by the Sindh Board of Technical Education, which would be equivalent to Intermediate.

Rehman said the JI had also been planning to launch an IT University in Karachi. Talking about a huge educational vacuum in the country, he said that some 25 million people in the country were under the age bracket of 35 years who had just passed matriculation.

The government and the state should have thought something for those 25 million people, he said, adding that the JI had taken an initiative to facilitate those 25 million people and other groups of youth.

He also highlighted the huge gap for expansion in the IT exports sectors and its potential to resolve the issues of the country.

A large number of Bano Qabil 1.0 alumni had started earning livelihood with the help of skills acquired during the IT courses, he said.

Alkhidmat Bano Qabil Project Pakistan head Naveed Ali Baig also addressed the press conference. He said the Bano Qabil 2.0 had also a quota for the participants of the Alkhidmat's Orphan Care Program.

Alkhidmat Executive Director Rashid Qureshi, Bano Qabil Project Director Farooq Kamlani and others accompanied the Karachi JI chief during his visit to the interview venue.

A day earlier on Friday, Naeem demanded removal of all the four provincial governors and the interim governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhoa in order to ensure level playing field for all political forces in the coming general elections.

He made the demand at a press conference at the Idara Noor-e-Haq.

He said the interim governments had lost their basis for their existence as they failed to hold the elections within the constitutional timeframe. He added that all the governors of the country had political affiliations and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was holding its meetings in the Punjab Governor House.

Rehman said the date for the general elections had been announced and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had claimed that the polls would be fair and transparent.

Against this backdrop, the JI leader remarked, the head of one political party was languishing in a jail, while the head of another party was enjoying a royal welcome in the country despite being convicted by a court of law.

He claimed that the prevailing scenario indicated that a particular party was being facilitated to form the next government.

Rehman demanded that the ECP select returning officers and district returning officers only from the judiciary and from various provinces in order to ensure transparency.

He also demanded that the ECP rectify the voter lists as per the data available with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

The JI leader criticised the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and other political parties, which, he said, had betrayed Karachi and its residents by approving a flawed census.

He added that the MQM-P had been begging the PML-N and PPP for seats in the elections and it intended to again betray the people of Karachi.