KARACHI: The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has raised questions over the Election Commission of Pakistan decision to hold the next polls on the basis of flawed 2017 census and delimitation.

The JI Karachi chief, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, while addressing party workers in Shah Faisal Colony said that only half of Karachi’s population was counted in the 2017 census held during the tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

“The resources are distributed and policies are devised for an area on the basis of its population,” he said. “Karachi deserves more seats in the national and the provincial assemblies, as well as an enhanced share in resources. The delimitation on the basis of a flawed census would be tantamount to sheer injustice to 30 million residents of Karachi.”

The JI leader while comparing the JI with other parties in the political arena of Karachi said that the JI had been fighting for the rights and cause of Karachi since a long ago, while the parties given mandate by Karachiites did nothing for the megalopolis.

He maintained that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf increased the miseries of Karachi and its citizens by paving way to legalise the flawed results of the 2017 census.

He said that a musical-chair game being played by various forces in the country for the past seven decades called ‘politics’.

He added that in fact the politics was a holy and sacred obligation.

He said that unfortunately both the Pakistan Peoples Party and the MQM did nothing to resolve the major problem of acute water crises in the city. “Instead the two parties reduced water for the K-IV project from 650 million gallon to 260 million gallons.

“In the current situation, the JI is the best choice for Karachi and Karachiites,” added Hafiz Naeem.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2022