Continuing its campaign against the provisional results of the national census, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Tuesday submitted a resolution before National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq stating that the data released — as it stands — will "not facilitate" the fair distribution of funds in the provinces.

A delegation of the MQM, headed by lawmaker Sheikh Salahuddin, submitted the resolution in the chambers of the NA speaker.

In the resolution, the party maintained that the statistics for Sindh ─ specifically Karachi ─ were "controversial", observing that the provisional data, as it stood, would prevent the fair distribution of funds under the National Finance Commission award.

The party demanded the release of "clear figures" and asked that the matter regarding the results be presented for debate in the NA.

The MQM, along with the PPP, has aired its concerns over the preliminary results of the national census, questioning the authenticity of the figures released by the statistics division.

A day earlier, MQM supremo had Farooq Sattar alleged that the census data had been "rigged".

He further alleged that the population figure for Karachi had been marked down as "it cannot be less than 30 million".

On Tuesday morning, Chief Census Commissioner Asif Bajwa turned down the objections raised by political parties over the results, claiming that the verification of "every individual" was ensured.

Nonetheless, Sattar continued his objections to the figure, saying that his party would initiate protests in Karachi on September 10 on the matter.

Development funds

Earlier in the day, as a session of the NA came to a close, MQM parliamentarians had surrounded Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi to demand the early release of development funds promised for Karachi and Hyderabad. However, the prime minister desisted from providing a definitive timeline for the matter.

Speaking to DawnNews, MQM MNA Salahuddin said that the party had reminded the prime minister of a promise he made when he visited Karachi earlier this month.

The prime minister had stated that the federal government will spend around Rs30 billion on Karachi and Hyderabad.

"We want the funds for the cities' development to be released [immediately]," the MNA said.