KARACHI: Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal demanded on Saturday that Prime Minister Imran Khan reverse the federal cabinet decision to approve the controversial National Census-2017 and hold local government elections across the country on the basis of the previous census results.

He also asked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan to part ways with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government and sit on opposition benches if it was really against the cabinet decision.

“The PSP will never accept this census as it is a matter of life and death for us. If our demand is not met, it means they are still not considering us as Pakistanis,” he told a press conference held at the party’s Pakistan House headquarters.

Warns MQM-P of public backlash if it continues to stick to ministries

Accompanied by party president Anis Kaimkhani and others, Mr Kamal said it was an open secret that Karachi’s total population was not counted in the sixth population census held in 2017 but despite this the PTI and the MQM-P had accepted the results of “fake and controversial” census a few days ago.

He said that the chief justice of Pakistan was on record saying that the population of Karachi was not less than 30 million. He said that the correct population of Karachi could be known by just checking the record of the National Database and Registration Authority that had issued 25 million identity cards in Karachi compared to the census figures that showed Karachi’s population as 15m.

Slams MQM-P for sticking to ministries

Mr Kamal once again heaped scorn on the MQM-P, saying its convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that his party would go to the people to take their viewpoint whether to stay in government.

He said that the people would throw shoes at MQM-P leaders if they approached them while staying in the government. He advised the MQM-P to quit the ruling coalition, sit on the opposition benches and then go to the people to seek their opinion on the issue.

However, he said the MQM-P would never resign from the ministries in the federal cabinet and this was the only reason that it chose to write a mere dissenting note while the cabinet approved the controversial census.

He said the MQM never held a protest or gave a strike call on matters of public importance. He said the MQM talked about injustices with the city but did not mention that it “tolerated” all the oppression while enjoying ministries and power.

He alleged that Dr Siddiqui’s name was mentioned in the joint investigation team report on some suspected RAW agents caught recently in Karachi that it was the MQM-P convener who took them to India. “This is the reason they would not quit ministries because they know they will be arrested as soon as they leave the government,” he said.

‘Silent revolution’

Mr Kamal warned that a silent revolution on linguistic lines was knocking at the doors of the city but “we will not let it succeed as we are against it”.

Mr Kamal said that Karachi was an unfortunate city as a military dictator had snatched the status of the country’s capital from Karachi and set up an entire city to create an “artificial” capital.

He said that during the era of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto industries and businesses, especially belonging to Urdu-speaking community, were nationalised and in the same way a gulf was created between the Sindhis and the Mohajirs through a rural-urban quota system that still existed.

He said the interior of Sindh was still under the control of landlords and feudals and Sindhis had left their ancestral homes in rural areas and migrated to the province’s cities and Karachi.

He demanded a fair census for Karachi so that the Mohajirs, Sindhis, Pakhtuns, Punjabis, etc, could get their due rights as the number of National and provincial assembly seats in Karachi would be increased as per their true population.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2020