HYDERABAD: Leaders of three nationalist parties on Sunday expressed their intention to give a ‘wheel-jam strike’ in Sindh over, what they called, “fraudulent census”. They termed counting of immigrants in Karachi a conspiracy to change demography of Sindh and convert Sindhis into a minority in their own province.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the local press club, Sindh United Party secretary general Roshan Buriro, Qaumi Awami Tehreek president Ayaz Latif Palijo, Jeay Sindh Mahaz-Riaz chairman Riaz Ali Chandio, Dr Badar Channa and Shafiq Moosvi said that a meeting of the Sindh Action Committee would be convened soon to consider giving a Sindh-wide wheel-jam strike call.

Ayaz Palijo pointed out that Sindh was not accepting the results of the digital census because a fraud was committed by reducing even the numbers of 2017 census. He observed that “Sindh doesn’t feature on the agenda of the federal coalition, judiciary and PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf]”.

He wondered that the apex court was silent over this fraud, and regretted that the judiciary focused on ‘Takht-i-Lahore’ alone for which benches were formed doors of courts had been opened in midnight hours.

Palijo said a fresh population census was due in 2027 but it was thrust upon the country as early as 2023. He said a Karachi-based party did not have any objection on the [counting of] Burmese, Biharis, Afghans and Bengalis in the census but it had only objection to the population of Sindhis. He said a conspiracy was being hatched to convert Sindhis into a minority within their homeland which was a question of Sindh’s existence.

Riaz Chandio said that Punjab wanted to occupy parliament on the basis of fake digital census. The biggest province, he alleged, had been usurping resources of Sindh since day one. He also accused Jamaat-i-Islami and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan of trying to increase the numbers of Karachi fraudulently and that the federal coalition was part of this conspiracy.

“Nobody would have any objection if a genuine census is held from Kashmore to Karachi,” Chandio said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023