Ministries will soon be paperless: Siddiqui

Federal IT minister stresses e-governance at 15th Build Asia Exhibition at Expo Centre

KARACHI: The country's exports cannot increase unless the export industry involves the country's information technology sector and includes software in its process. This view was expressed by Federal Information Technology (IT) Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui at the inauguration of the 15th Build Asia International Building Material and Construction Machinery Exhibition on Saturday. The minister was speaking at the event held at Expo Centre, which also featured the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) expo.

Speaking on the occasion, Siddiqui said that the bureaucracy was responsible for the lack of e-governance in the country as it does not want positive change. Under the directives of the incumbent prime minister, however, work on e-governance has accelerated and ministries will soon be made paperless, he added.

With regards to Karachi, the minister said that although the country's capital had shifted to Islamabad, Karachi remains the economic and trade capital of the country. It is evident that there is a conspiracy to artificially shift investment from the metropolis to foreign cities and countries like Dubai, Bangladesh, Singapore and others, he claimed.

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According to the federal minister, Karachi runs the country and Pakistan cannot flourish without prosperity in Karachi. "Development and peace in Pakistan is conditional upon development and peace in Karachi," he said.

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The minister expressed the wish that everyone is held equal in the eyes of the law. Justice should be delivered to the general public as it is given to social and political figures, he said. He claimed that there are several blocks in Karachi where there is no population, but they still are stated as electoral constituencies with registered voters.

Siddiqui added that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had submitted objections on the census, along with evidence, before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

According to one of the organisers, E-Commerce Gateway President Dr Khursheed Nizam, who organised the exhibition, the three-day exhibition features goods used by the construction industry such as heavy machinery, steel, glass, cement, and others. He told that over 150 national and international companies are participating in the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2019.