‘Only PPP pushed for real census, others did only lip service’

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Thursday said that PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami, and even MQM demonstrated mysterious silence when the population of Karachi and the entire province was calculated at 16 million and 47 million respectively in the last census of 2017.

“Only I rejected the 2017 census in the Council of Common Interests (CCI),” he said, adding that, surprisingly now everyone is trying to be a champion of the cause.

CM was talking to the media at St Joseph’s Convent School where he attended the commemoration ceremony of the sesquicentennial Year (1862 - 2022-23).

To a question, the chief minister said that he was quite surprised that the PTI has announced it will stage a protest demonstration against the ongoing census.

“They [PTI] were in the government when the population of Karachi was counted at 16 million and of the entire province at 47 million, but they did not raise their voice and it was me who had rejected the census of 2017 in the CCI meeting,” he said and added the MQM had also accepted the census on the condition if conducted again.

Shah said that as far as Jamaat-e-Islami was concerned they had also demonstrated silence, except for a few statements but now everyone was claiming to be champion of the cause purely for political reasons.

“I know, people of the province particularly of Karachi know very well that it was the PPP government in Sindh that had fought for their rights and was still contesting the case,” he said.

CM lauded the services of the Catholic education system in the country and across the world.

Catholic schooling develops a strong bond between the teacher and the student, he said.

Murad shared that his sister graduated from this school and his father used to come daily to drop and pick her.

Talking about the rain forecast, the CM said that the forecast for heavy rains has been made for the end of April and the beginning of May. “We are taking necessary measures to control the situation but controlling downpour is only in the hands of the Almighty Allah,” he said.