Census approval despite reservations to be injustice with Sindh: MQM-P

Updated 23 Dec, 2020

ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Tuesday said that it would be unfair with Sindh if the federal government approves 6th Population and Housing Censuses 2017 despite reservations from some political parties prominently MQM-P. Talking to Business Recorder, MQM-P MNA Salahuddin said that a few days back, a delegation of MQM-P had conveyed its reservations to Prime Minister Imran and he assured us to address our reservations regarding the census.

"If the prime minister backtracks from its commitment, it would be injustice with the people of Sindh as we have serious reservations over the sixth Population and Housing Census," he added. He said that on November 13, 2017, the provisional results of sixth Population and Housing Census 2017 at block level were approved by the CCI with directions for 1 percent validation of census results, adding in a subsequent meeting held on November 24, 2017 it was decided to enhance the validation to 5 percent.

The MQM MNA said that during a recent meeting with the Prime Minister, we requested him to play his role in rectifying lacunas in the provisional results of the sixth population census by ensuring a five percent sample audit of census block in Karachi.

He said that the provisional results of the 2017 census showed Karachi's population at 15.6 million, whereas national and international experts and organisations believed the true population of the city to be anywhere between 25 million and 30 million.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Secretary General Farhatullah Babar said that there should be a third-party audit of five per cent of the population blocks, which had been agreed with the then government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

He said that government's attempt to get the census 2017 results validated from the Council of Common Interests (CCI) is not acceptable as political parties have reservations over the census results.

He said that the then Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had presided over a meeting in which an agreement was signed, and Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq had guaranteed that it would be followed in "letter and spirit".

"The PPP will not accept government decision if it goes ahead in principle to announce the final results of the sixth population census without a third-party audit," he added.

When contacted, PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said that the party would speak on the issue once it becomes clear whether the government is not going to declare the sixth population census results without a third-party audit or not.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

Read Comments