Sherry questions census approval without Sindh agreement

ISLAMABAD: The PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman, has rejected the cabinet’s decision to approve the 2017-Census and questioned that how the census could be approved without addressing Sindh’s concerns.

“According to the UNICEF survey, the average members of a household are at 7.2 in Sindh, whereas the census results put the number of the average household at 5.64. Similarly,

Sindh’s population should be over 61 million, while the official result says the population is under just 48 million. Surely, we have problems here, which need to be rectified,” the PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate stated in a statement on Monday. She said despite addressing Sindh’s grievances, the CCI had approved the results, while the cabinet committee unilaterally finalised the report.

Senator Sherry Rehman said, “Sindh government was not even called for a consultation and how such a major decision can be taken without addressing provincial grievances”. She said the Sindh chief minister has written to the prime minister, chairman Senate and speaker National Assembly, calling for a joint session of the parliament to discuss the issue. She asked the authorities, “Why it is being delayed? Is it not a matter of national importance? Our Constitution guarantees us this right under Article-154 (7)”.

She said the Article-154(7) states, “If the federal government or any of the provincial governments is not satisfied with a decision of the CCI, it may refer the matter to Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) in a joint sitting, whose decision in this behalf shall be final.”

Sherry Rehman added that they believe in the supremacy of the parliament and in this situation, it is the parliament only, which can take the final decision. She said it was rather unfortunate that the prime minister had endorsed the committee’s decision instead of suggesting consultation on the issue.

“What’s even more shocking is that during the voting, the PM had decided not to take the vote of three federal ministers, who were present at the meeting. What is the meaning of this? It’s a shame that Sindh is being treated like this by the federal government.” The PPP senator said the government should ensure that Sindh’s grievances should be resolved and a joint session of the parliament should also be called to discuss such an important issue.