KARACHI: MQM Pakistan leaders have demanded that the population of Karachi should be accurately counted in the census and emphasized that no one should be more or less, and the whole of Pakistan should be considered right.
They expressed their concerns about the under-representation of urban areas of Sindh and urged citizens to count themselves correctly for the coming generations.
Addressing a press conference, MQM Pakistan convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui expressed concerns about the recent digital census conducted in Karachi, alleging that the population of Karachi was further reduced in the recent census and demanded that the population of Karachi should be accurately counted
He emphasized that counting each individual is the important responsibility of the state and the census is a very important and national issue. He added that for the past 50 years, there has been injustice in the urban areas of Sindh, where the population has been under-represented under planning.
Khaliq Maqbool Siddiqui claimed that their fears and apprehensions have been proven right this time, in the latest census, the population of Karachi has been reduced even compared to the 2017 census, and the population of Sindh’s urban areas has been shown to be less under special planning.
The MQM-P convener also shared that on the day the census was to end, 98 percent of the census was announced, and the population of Karachi was estimated to be 1.43 million, which means their fears were justified. He appealed to the people to correct the data which was not counted correctly, urging citizens to count themselves correctly for the coming generations.
Speaking at the press conference, Mustafa Kamal said that MQM’s agenda for the past several months has been focused only on the census. He added that it is strange that they have to go around the entire country to get themselves counted.
Farooq Sattar also addressed the press conference claiming that the residents of 32,000 buildings in Karachi were not counted correctly, and 4,000 slums were also not counted correctly. He demanded that all the records should be taken out and checked thoroughly.
