MQM-P Nasreen Jaleel urges PM to re-conduct Karachi’s ‘Population Census’

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Senator Nasreen Jaleel has urged Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and other representatives of the federal government to conduct the population census of Karachi and other urban cities of Sindh again, as most of the parties including people of Karachi had rejected the provincial result of the ‘Population Census 2017’.

In a crowded press conference at the MQM-P office here on Thursday, the senator claimed that the government is planning to give legal cover to ‘Population Census, 2017’ in the Council of Common Interest (CCI). She said that the MQM-P is raising the issue on the provincial and federal government level for the second time, but there has not been a response to it.

She claimed that she has sought time from the premier and Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah to discuss this issue.

She also appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar, who hears the issues of Karachi on a weekly basis, to hear petitions regarding Karachi’s population census and empower the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) under section 140A on an urgent basis.

Nasreen emphasised that accurate census data is essential to guarantee Karachi’s due share in the distribution of national resources including water, health, education, infrastructure and social development projects.

Furthermore, Faisal Sabzwari said that the decision on census will not only hurt citizens of Karachi but the whole population living major cities of Sindh.

In a similar case, Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Mustafa Kamal said that his party had already rejected the provisional result of the ‘Population Census, 2017’ and would resist attempts to consider the report as a final one until its figures were put right.

Referring to a report that said the Statistics Bureau of Pakistan (SBP) had sent a summary to the PM, seeking approval for the controversial result which showed the city’s population to be around 16 million, Mustafa Kamal said that such results were audited before being considered legit in all developed countries but Pakistan does work in the opposite way.

Earlier, former President Asif Ali Zardari while speaking in the National Assembly (NA) said that Karachi’s population is more than 30 million.

Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah was also urged to undertake all efforts within his official capacity to ensure that a correct census review is carried out without further delay.