The PPP and MQM-P demanded on Wednesday that a census be conducted in Sindh again as the province’s population in the 2017 exercise was not documented correctly.
A delegation of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) reached Bahadurabad central office of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) for talks with the party’s leaders.
The PPP has focused attention over the allies of the government to exchange views over the matters of mutual interest in connection with the opposition’s campaign against the government. A PPP delegation comprised of Saeed Ghani, Taj Haider and Waqar Mehdi visited Bahadurabad to discuss matters of mutual interests with MQM-P leaders.
MQM leaders Khawaja Izharul Hassan, Faisal Sabzwari and others received the PPP delegation. The delegation discussed current political situation and mutual concerns over the population census, sources said.The federation is depriving Karachi and Sindh of its rights because the provinces are given resources and representation in the assemblies based on their population, MQM-P leader Faisal Sabzwari told reporters here. He was flanked by PPP leader Taj Haider. Sabzwari said the MQM-P wanted Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to raise the issue in the Council of Common Interests. The results of the 2017 census would remain suspicious until the population of the province was correctly counted, he added.
On December 22, the federal cabinet approved the results of the 2017 census three years after it was conducted. The MQM-P, a coalition partner of the ruling PTI in the centre, rejected the census results. Haider said his party agrees with MQM-P’s demand to conduct the census in Sindh again. The people who had come to Sindh from other parts of the country were not counted as part of the province, he added. The PPP maintains that the federal cabinet has no authority to either approve or reject the census results because the subject of census falls under the domain of the CCI. In a meeting on December 24, the Sindh cabinet decided to take up the issue with the federal government.
The meeting was told that the Sindh government had already tabled its reservations in the CCI. The two sides discussed the political situation, senate elections and results of the population census and both parties expressed reservations over the results of the census, sources said. A delegation of People’s Party is also expected to meet the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional leaders and exchange views over the political situation and the issue of the population census, sources added.
