Sindh not to accept census results if its reservations not addressed: Sharjeel

The Sindh government has duly conveyed to the relevant federal authorities its objections to the ongoing population census in the country as it will not accept the census results if its reservations are not allayed.

This was stated by Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon as he addressed a press conference on Friday. He told the media that representatives of the Sindh government had held a meeting via Zoom with the federal authorities, including Federal Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal. The provincial government conveyed its concerns about the census to the federal government in that meeting, he added.

Memon expressed the hope that the federal government would allay the concerns of Sindh regarding the census. He explained that Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had also publicly expressed reservations about the census and the Sindh chief minister had also raised the census issue at different forums.

The information minister said that it was the desire of the Sindh government that every concerned political party and civil society organisation should have complete trust in the census process and they should be assured that each person living in Sindh would be duly counted in the process.

He added that the heads of the families in the province should also have this assurance that all the occupants of their houses would be duly counted in the census. Memon demanded the federal authorities share the census data of the province with the Sindh government.

He said that illegal immigrants living in Sindh should also be counted in the census campaign in order to determine the actual population of the province so that the authorities exactly knew the number of persons consuming resources available in the province.

The Sindh government under its austerity campaign had slashed unnecessary expenditures in order to extend maximum relief to the public, Memon said, adding that the Sindh government had decided to give magistracy powers to officials of the Bureau of Supply and Prices to stabilise the prices of items of everyday use during the sacred month of Ramazan.

He asserted that officials of the Bureau of Supply and Prices would be empowered to impose fines and order imprisonment of the retailers involved in profiteering. The information minister also discussed the planned operation against dacoits operating in the kutcha areas of Sindh. He said the Sindh government after getting approval from the federal interior ministry would procure latest equipment and weapons for conducting the operation against the dacoits in the riverine belt of the province.

He said a recent meeting of the Sindh cabinet had approved funds for procuring latest weapons and gadgets for the operation that would be carried out jointly with the police of Punjab and Balochistan and Sindh Rangers. He explained that help would also be sought from the Pakistan Army if any such need was felt during the operation against the dacoits.

Answering a question, Memon said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was involved in anti-state intrigues. He remarked that the PTI chairman had ruined the national economy during his rule and he also advised the overseas Pakistanis not to send foreign remittances as part of their conspiracy to make the country bankrupt.

Khan had made every attempt to push the country to the verge of bankruptcy, Memon alleged, adding that the PTI’s previous provincial governments had also made an attempt to dishonour the IMF’s accord with Pakistan. He also condoled the recent death of a PTI worker in Lahore saying that being a politician, he was saddened by the tragedy. He advised the PTI against doing politics on dead bodies.