ISLAMABAD: A delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and complained that their concerns regarding the ongoing census were not addressed.

According a press release issued by the Prime Minister Office, MQM convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Minister for Information Technology Syed Aminul Haque recalled their demands regarding some ratifications in the census and expressed displeasures that despite frequent complaints in the past, their concerns have so far not been addressed.

The prime minister again assured them that their demands would be met soon.

The MQM delegation met the prime minister for a second time during the current month on the same issue as Mr Sharif had on March 1 reportedly agreed to address the party’s concerns regarding current digital census and decided to extend the facility of self-enumeration till the completion of door-to-door population census.

“Prime Minister Sahib agreed to our demands that high-rise building in Karachi should not be considered as one unit and the date of digital census should be extended,” Mr Siddiqui had told Dawn after that meeting.

According to the MQM, hundreds of thousands of housing units remained uncounted in Karachi as the census symbol [Sheen-Meem] was written on the main gates of high-rise buildings but not on the doors of each and every apartment in them.

Some of the high-rise buildings carried hundreds of apartments, but they are considered one unit, resulting in inaccurate population count in the country’s commercial hub.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2023