Sindh chief minister expresses reservations on census results

We will fight Sindh's case in consultation with all parties, says Shah

KARACHI: Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that he had expressed reservations on the census results when they were presented in the Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting. "We will fight our [Sindh's] case in consultation with all the political parties," he vowed.
This he said while talking on Monday to the media at the residence of the Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izharul Hassan.

He said that the provisional census results were presented during the CCI meeting held before Eidul Azha. "I had expressed my reservation over the results, in which the population of Lahore was shown to have increased from five million to 11 million, while the population of Karachi was shown to have increased from 10 million to 14 million," Shah said, adding that the results were quite surprising to him.



The chief minister said he had written a letter to Federal Minister Ishaq Dar when the census process was being started, urging Dar to direct the census teams to give a copy of the headcount to the family concerned during the census data collection process. "It was necessary and important to make the process transparent and easier for verification but the federal government did not listen," he claimed.
Blocks were made during the census of a group of 250 to 300 houses, said Shah.

"Had they [the census teams] given the households a copy of their headcount, it would have become quite easy to counter-check the population in a block through the copies available with them," he said.



"We have planned to consult all the political parties on this matter to evolve a joint strategy to fight out Sindh's case," he said, adding that the Pakistan Peoples Party had reservations from an early stage, which is why the party had filed a suit in the court.

Replying to a question, the chief minister said that the provincial assembly has enacted a law to keep the record of the people coming from other areas. "This is a cosmopolitan city where people of different ethnicities, areas and even other countries live," he said, adding that sometimes one does not know who lives in their neighbourhood.