NewsAugust 29 , 2017
Sindh govt rejects initial census results
KARACHI: While rejecting the recently-announced preliminary results of the 6th Population and Housing Census in the country, the Sindh government has said that the federal government has conspired by deliberately showing the population of Sindh province “lesser in number”. Other parties in Sindh also expressed their reservations.The federal government, however, rejected the objections raised by the provincial government of Sindh, saying the whole process of the Sixth Population and Housing Census was conducted in a transparent manner. It said it did not manipulate the results.
In a policy statement issued here on Monday, Sindh’s Senior Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said that the Sindh government had decided to hold an All Parties Conference (APC) on the recently-announced preliminary results of the 6th population census held earlier in the year.
While talking to the media, Khuhro, who is also the ruling PPP Sindh President, said the federal government, under a wilful plan, had shown the population of Sindh as “less than the actual” and termed it the federal government’s conspiracy against Sindh. He suspected that the federal government had done so to deny Sindh its rightful increase in the share of the Federal Divisible Pool. He said the Sindh government had expressed its reservations during the census drive but the federal government failed to address those. In view of these reservations, Khuhro said the Sindh government had demanded that every household be given a photostat copy of the “filled out census form” as a valid proof of counting of their family, but the federal government did not pay any heed. He charged the federal government of keeping the census results confidential for an unduly long period due to mala fide intentions against the province and its government.
Nisar Khuhro said an APC would be convened after contacting all the political parties of the province on the issue. The Sindh senior minister said that Sindh would not withdraw from its constitutional rights come what may, as the provincial government had resolved to safeguard the rights of the people.
Separately talking to newsmen, Sindh Industries and Commerce Minister Manzoor Hussain Wassan, who is also PPP Sindh Senior Vice President, said that courts would be moved against the wrongful results of the census and if the need arose, PPP would also take to the streets. He said any confrontation in the country due to the census results would give undue advantage to inimical elements outside. He said the Federation of Pakistan would have strengthened if the census results had been compiled transparently.
He said both urban and rural population figures of Sindh had been doctored to show lesser population than actual despite the province receiving most of the migrants from other parts of the country. He said the population of Punjab had been shown to be muchcensus had shown population of Sindh being over 47.88 million as compared to Punjab’s population of over 110 million. The census results show Sindh to be the most urbanized province where 52.02 per cent population lives in urban areas. The initial results of the census shows Karachi's population being over 16.51 million, while in 1998 census the city's population stood at 84,39,659. The Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan has already rejected initial results of census terming them a mockery with the people living in cities of the province.
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk
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