KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Farooq Sattar said on Tuesday that the provisional census results deliberately show a decrease in Sindh’s urban population.
"Like every census, the sixth exercise too asks us to ‘adjust’ and 'accommodate' the results," lamented Sattar at a press conference.
Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur will not be given any benefits as a result of the census, he claimed, adding that "Sindh’s urban residents have been shown their worth" in this census.
The MQM leader feared that Karachi and Hyderabad will not be given theirdue share in local development funds as a result of the census.
"We can in no circumstances accept these initial results," he said, adding that injustice with Karachi is injustice with Pakistan.
"This is not an issue of the MQM but concerns all residents of Sindh's urban areas," he argued.
"Census commissioner Asif Bajwa has done injustice to us. Mohajir’s and Sindh’s urbanites are not being pushed against the wall but pinned to the wall," he said further.
Moreover, the MQM leader said the party will take out a rally on September 10 in this regard.
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) has also rejected the results of the census.
In a press conference on Tuesday, PSP leader Anis Advocate said they will take out rallies after Eid to make people aware of the ‘real situation’.
“Some people are trying to foment instability through the census results,” said Anis. He called for bringing forth the ‘true’ results of the census.
Meanwhile, in Islamabad, the Senate's standing committee on statistics advised on Tuesday the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to recheck the provisional census results of one per cent of blocks.
On Sunday, Sattar had announced to lead a protest rally in 72 hours against the provisional census results.
Speaking in the party's general workers’ convention at PIB Colony football ground, Sattar said by understating the population of Karachi census results have done injustice to all ethnic communities living in the metropolis.
Similarly, on Monday, the Sindh government announced that it would reject the provisional results of the sixth population census.
Terming the results a conspiracy against the province by the federal government, senior Pakistan Peoples Party leader Nisar Khuhro said the provincial government will not let the province be treated in an unfair manner.
“We will not let the federal government treat the province unfairly and we will take what is rightfully ours,” said Khuhro.
The government alleged that Sindh’s population was shown to be less than its actual number in order to not increase the province’s share in the National Finance Commission Award.
The PPP-led government has also decided to call an all party conference to discuss the reservations.