KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain asked the government on Wednesday to hold a census under supervision of the army so that “people of the country could get true representation”.

Mr Hussain also asked MQM workers and leaders to stop making statements about PPP leader Khursheed Ahmed Shah’s recent remarks about the word “Mohajir”.

Speaking from London by phone at a press conference held at the MQM’s headquarters, he also urged leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the MQM to make their arguments in a gentle and effective manner, instead of using provocative language against each other.

He alleged that landlords of Sindh had made false claims during the previous censuses to deprive people of urban Sindh of their true representation in elections.

He said that successive governments had avoided holding a census, and a lack of this important exercise had created serious problems.

The MQM chief said the population census should be carried out in a scientific manner under the supervision of the army.

He condemned some feudal leaders and so-called nationalists for targeting Sindhi-speaking workers and supporters of the MQM in the interior of the province.

He said a student was expelled from his school just because his father was an MQM worker.

Mr Hussain asked the army chief, Karachi corps commander and the Rangers director general to take action against those who were harassing MQM workers and supporters living in the interior of Sindh.

“People may react if injustices are not stopped... the establishment, political, religious and ethnic parties should not raise a hue and cry if the people come up with their reaction,” he warned.

He said the MQM could provide protection to the life and property of its Sindhi-speaking workers and supporters in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and other places.

He said the MQM was talking about the creation of new provinces in Sindh today but Sindh 1 and Sindh 2 were created in the province back in 1973 when the urban and rural quota was introduced.

He categorically rejected reports that the MQM was going to rejoin the Sindh government or become part of the federal government.

Answering a question about the fate of Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, Mr Hussain said the former had resigned from the MQM when he took oath as the governor and now it was up to the federal government to keep him in the office or not.

Published in Dawn, October 30th , 2014