- ‘Nobody can make proper planning for Karachi without accurate population census’
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Dr Farooq Sattar has said that his party will continue to fight for the accurate census in urban areas of Sindh, as even nobody can make proper planning for this over-crowded provincial capital without accurate census.
Addressing a corner meeting here on Tuesday, he said that there would be no need of their party if Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan promise to conduct a fresh census in the urban areas, including Karachi, and assure Rs 250 billion revenue share to Karachi from the Rs 2,500 billion collected revenue.
Dr Sattar said that the recently-conducted population census in Karachi and Hyderabad was fraudulent as Karachi population had been declared small in every area. “I can tell you with the reference of a record that there are five to six children under 19 are living in every house in PS-99 constituency,” he said.
He said that the PPP government has declared deliberately the population of the urban areas in small number to avoid more seats in the National Assembly and the Provincial Assembly. “Our party will continue fighting for the accurate census in urban areas of Sindh,” he said.
He assured the office bearers of ABAD to raise their voice in the National Assembly and the Sindh Assembly for declaring construction as an industry in Pakistan. He said that cement, steel, iron and many other small industries have linked with the construction and if the construction will stop in Pakistan many other small industries can be collapsed.
He said that the government could not build housing projects itself. “We will suggest the governments to make public-private partnership to fulfill the need of housing projects in all over the country,” he said. He asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to give attention in the Garden area of Karachi, where police demolishing the houses of the MQM supporters and voters.
He said that such activities should be stopped in the area as they were their voters and if their houses were demolished where they will go. MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that all big parties in Karachi imagine that MQM-P was weak party and wants to overcome this city. Despite all the shocks, MQM-P will get 75-85 per cent seats of the urban area of Sindh, he said.
The World Bank and other international media said that the population of Karachi was over 27 million, but the national census claims that the population of the city was below 15 million, he said. “Karachi is giving 75 per cent revenue to the federation, but its representation in the assembly is below 20 per cent,” he said.
Siddiqui warned the forthcoming government that MQM-P would not support any party in the National Assembly and the Provincial Assembly until they were not provided justice including accurate census in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.
He said that the previous government of PPP did not develop Karachi or any other urban city in Sindh, but they saw a boom in real estate market of UAE. The MQM-P convener said that the authorities have continued to arrest his party’s workers, adding that raids were also yet to stop. “We want to know why these unjustified arrest being made,” he questioned.