MIRPURKHAS: Amid growing apprehensions about population census in Sindh planned for next month, the Sindh Progressive Committee (SPC) , having representation of various civil society organisations, on Saturday launched a series of demonstrations in Hyderabad, Larkana and Mirpurkhas districts demanding that the process be held under the supervision of the judiciary.

Led by Zahoor Leghari, a large number of activists held a demonstration outside the Mirpurkhas Press Club and raised slogans against the ‘flawed’ census process.

Speaking to them, Mr Leghari said all political parties, nationalist groups and civil society organisations wanted the census to be transparent in all respects. He particularly laid stress on counting of aboriginal Sindhis and ‘outsiders’ separately for which, he said, there should be separate columns in the census form.

He said that Sindhi people would not accept the right of outsiders on the province’s resources of Sindh.

“Outsiders must be identified in the headcount,” he said, adding that it was, therefore, necessary to hold the census under the judiciary and strict monitoring by foreign neutral observers.

Taj Mohammed Baloch said that the committee considered all those temporarily living or settled in Sindh for a livelihood or business purposes ‘outsiders’ and, as such, they should not be counted with the permanent residents of the province in the census.

Masood Wassan, Dur Mohammed Brohi, Sagar Sindhu, Manzoor Memon, Abdul Salam Aryan, Sarang Sindhi and others also spoke.

The SPC also organised a demonstration on Saturday outside the Hyderabad Press Club, where its leaders explained the committee’s point of view.

The protesters raised slogans against the provincial government for allowing the census process as recommended by the federal authorities. They expressed their apprehension that through such a flawed census, Sindh and its people could be deprived of their genuine share in resources and development funds.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Jeay Sindh Liberal Front (JSLF) held under the chairmanship of Nawaz Khan Zaunr in Hyderabad also decided to launch an awareness campaign on Feb 25 with regard to census in Sindh.

It announced that rallies would be staged in different cities and villages across Sindh and corner meetings would be held to apprise the general public of ‘technical’ issues involved in the process.

Mr Zaunr noted with concern that Sindh did not have representation in the statistics department, and said this exposed the federal government’s intentions.

“A census must be held but a separate box to identify ‘aliens’ should be there in the form for immigrants, Afghan refugees and others living in Sindh,” he said. These aliens, he added, should not be considered part of the Sindh population.

He warned Sindhi people of a conspiracy to turn them into a minority within their own province.

The SPC organised a procession which passed through various thoroughfares of Larkana on Saturday. Leaders of the component parties — Awami Workers Party, Communist Party of Pakistan, Jeay Sindh Mahaz and Awami Jamhoori Party — spoke to the participants at different spots during their march.

Zahid Chandio, Gulab Pirzado, Hafiz Sikandar Tunio, Hussain Bakhsh Narejo and others said that the brief period of three days to complete the enormous task of census was a conspiracy to covert Sindhis into a minority in their own province.

The results of such a census would turn Sindhis’ representation in the elected houses and affect Sindh’s share in the National Finance Commission, they said.

They observed that ever since Independence, outsiders had been entering Sindh and settling themselves here on a permanent basis. This massive immigration from outside Sindh had constantly been increasing pressure on the province’s resources. They also recounted various other moves which, they believed, were aimed at turning Sindhis into a minority.

They noted that ‘outsiders’ in other provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir did not have the right to purchase lands but the situation in Sindh was different.

They urged Sindhis to actively participate in the census exercise and appealed to those whose mother tongue but were settled in Sindh for many decades to write ‘Sindhi’ as their identity in the census form.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2016