Staff Reporter Karachi
The Sindh government on Saturday sent a reference to the parliament asking it to deliberate on the results of the sixth census after the Council of Common Interest failed to address their concerns.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah made a request to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani under Article 154(7) of the Constitution to summon a joint session of parliament.
Murad said that the Article 154 (7) states that “if the federal government or a provincial government is dissatisfied with a decision of the council, it may refer the matter to Parliament in a joint sitting whose decision in this behalf shall be final.” The Sindh CM said that in the federal legislative list census appears as entry number 9.
He also explained that the CCI was “empowered” to have a final say on the matter as a “genuine and accurate census is a pre requisite to so many constitutional and legal rights” as it has provincial representation.
He explained that the “constitution makers” would not have asked the CCI to look into the matter if they wanted to ignore the point of view of the provinces.
