Census be extended beyond April 10 to ensure accurate count, demands Ghani

Sindh Labour Saeed Ghani has demanded that the ongoing census drive be extended beyond April 10 to ensure that the population of the province is properly counted in a transparent manner.

Speaking at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday, he lamented that the ongoing 7th digital housing and population census had not been progressing in the right direction and the suggestions given by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had not been incorporated.

Ghani, who is also the Karachi division president of the PPP, said that suggestions of his party to make sure that the population of Sindh was accurately counted had still not been implemented by the census authorities.

He said the PPP had carried out a random survey to check whether all parts of Karachi had been covered under the census drive and it came to their knowledge that people in several neighbourhoods of the city had not been counted.

The labour minister said that on the basis of the information received so far, he could state that the census drive had not been conducted properly.

He told the media that although officials of the district administration were involved in the enumeration exercise, they did not have the powers to check and verify the census data to ensure that the occupants of every house had been duly counted.

He said the distribution of fiscal resources and allocation of seats in the legislatures would be affected if the census drive was not conducted in a proper manner.

Ghani warned that mutual ties based on trust between the Centre and provinces would be affected if the census drive again became controversial.

He recalled that the results of the last census held in 2017 had not been accepted by Sindh. He mentioned that the Sindh government had effectively fought the case of the people of Sindh in this regard.

He said that earlier, efforts had been made to ensure that errors that occurred in the 2017 census were not repeated this time.

He demanded that the census drive be made fair and transparent instead of maintaining secrecy in the enumeration process.

Responding to a question, Ghani demanded that the incumbent chief justice of Pakistan should step down because his rulings and conduct had violated the constitution and law. He lamented that the CJP and his two fellow judges had unduly supported the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

He said that it seemed to him that the judiciary was the cause behind prevailing political and economic crises in the country.

Ghani informed the journalists that the PPP had emerged as the single largest political party in Karachi after the latest local government elections.

He said the candidates of the PPP in Karachi had won the elections from such areas where earlier the PPP had not secured electoral victory.

He recalled that the PPP had secured electoral victories from the areas of Landhi and Korangi in the decade of 1970.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should not have delayed so much the by-elections on the vacant seats in Karachi if the same by-polls had to be held before the mayoral election.

He lamented that the ECP had unduly used delaying tactics in declaring the complete results of the local government polls in the city.

To another question, Ghani conceded that the situation of street crimes had become bleak in Karachi but it was wrong to assume that police did not have the powers to deal with the criminals involved in such tactics.

The PPP leader said that several suspects involved in street crime had been caught by the police but they were later released after getting bail orders from courts.

He assured the journalists that the Sindh government would do its best to speedily resolve all the issues of the Karachi Press Club and its members.