KARACHI: Declaring that the “seven million” inhabitants of Karachi had been “missing” from the results of the census, Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Mustafa Kamal on Sunday accused the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and its chief minister of “playing a dangerous game” on people’s count as only the population of the city’s urban areas was shown less.

Speaking at a big public meeting held here on the Liaquatabad flyover, Mr Kamal pleaded the case of Karachi — whose population has been shown over 16 million in the provisional census results — and presented solutions of the multiple crises the megalopolis was facing.

A large number of PSP workers and supporters, including women and children, attended what many described as a show of strength in a stronghold of its nemesis Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, which held a big public meeting on the same flyover early last month.

Kamal warns the chief minister against ‘playing a dangerous game’ over census

By talking about the numerous problems of Karachi and staging an event in a traditional Urdu-speaking neighbourhood, Mr Kamal also gave a message to his detractors that he would no longer allow them to play their “Mohajir card”.

It was the party’s first public meeting after an establishment-sponsored alliance between the PSP and the MQM-P unravelled in November.

Ever since, each party is apparently in a race to present itself as the true representatives of the people of urban Sindh, as the MQM-P had staged a public meeting in Hyderabad and now the PSP showed that it was also a power to reckon with.

On Sunday, carrying the national flag and shouting slogans, PSP workers and supporters reached the venue in the form of rallies from their respective areas.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kamal strongly reacted to a recent statement of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in which he said the total population of Karachi in the census was 16 million and in view of this figure the total requirement of water in the city was not more than 800 million gallons daily.

“By showing less population, chief minister of Sindh is conspiring against the people of Karachi to deprive them of the basic need of water,” Mr Kamal said. “Today, I have to plead and win the case of the people of Karachi whose generations are being left in the lurch.”

Rejecting the census results, he said that why the CM was bent on proving Karachi’s figures of the census correct. He said the “missing seven million” people in Karachi population be counted.

He said the people of Karachi had to decide by themselves that what kind of struggle they wanted for their rights. “We will never go against the state,” he added.

He demanded the authorities that a “one-time amnesty” be given to the “misled youths” of Karachi to bring them into the national mainstream.

Mr Kamal, who is a staunch critic of Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and his party, demanded that all civic bodies working in the metropolis be given under the administrative control of the city mayor. However, he added that it must be ensured that the mayor’s existing powers must be used in a judicious manner.

He also demanded that a “Karachi Metropolitan Police” be formed under the control of the mayor.

The former Karachi mayor also demanded of the authorities that the people of Karachi be allowed to install street barriers to stop increasing incidents of street crimes in their localities.

He was critical of the performance of the K-Electric and alleged that it had looted Rs100 billion from the people of Karachi.

He also spoke on what he called the miserable situation of public sector hospitals, government schools and colleges, the city’s transport system and garbage disposal.

He demanded that the Karachi Master Plan department be separated from the Sindh Building Control Authority forthwith.

Demanding due share in government jobs for Karachi’s youth, he called upon the authorities to issue the provincial finance commission award forthwith.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2017