'Centre must run Karachi'

"Demanding Karachi be placed under federal control is not unconstitutional," said Federal Minister for Education and MQM-Pakistan's senior leader Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Thursday. Adding that if such a debate is branded as treason, then the relevant clauses should be removed from the Constitution itself.

He expressed these views while responding to media questions after a ceremony held at NED University, under the Prime Minister's Laptop Scheme. Dr Siddiqui said the concerned federal minister had returned to the country and the issue could now be discussed at the appropriate forum.

Commenting on the Gul Plaza tragedy, Dr Siddiqui said that dissatisfaction over the investigation report was not limited to his party alone. "Even the Sindh government is not satisfied with the findings," he said.

Speaking about the deteriorating situation at Federal Urdu University, he said funds had been allocated twice for the institution. An inquiry report, he added, was expected soon, but the real problem lay in undue interference. "People come with recommendations, and that disrupts accountability," he remarked.

On the unusual delay in appointing a Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad, the federal minister said the selection process had been conducted transparently and a summary had already been sent to the Prime Minister. "We have not yet received it back. We will raise the matter with the Prime Minister, as this key academic post should not remain vacant," he said.

Earlier, addressing the laptop distribution ceremony, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that the benefits of democracy were now reaching Karachi. "Karachi pledged to build and sustain Pakistan. We are thankful to the Prime Minister of Pakistan for ensuring that students of Sindh receive laptops," he said.

He noted that while the region had seen development over the past four decades, it had still fallen behind.