KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Saturday claimed that the Karachi population had remained undercounted since 1972 under an ‘undeclared agreement’ among ‘different forces’ which never wanted the city to get its due and fair share in any segment of the governance, social development and parliamentary participation.

Addressing an Iftar-dinner hosted by the party for its workers in Gulbahar, Nazimabad, MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, however, warned that his party would not become part of any “manoeuvring and manipulation” with the number of Karachi population.

“This is stated and documented fact with all relevant institutions and authorities that Karachi consumes wheat of 35 million people every year,” he said.

“How is it possible that population of this city declines every time when you go into the census? This is a sheer injustice. Unfortunately, this is happening since 1972. What’s more worrisome is that there is a kind of national consensus that Karachi population should remain undercounted for different reasons and vested interests,” he said.

He said that there were more Afghans in Karachi than in Kabul and similarly number of Pakhtuns living in the metropolis was much higher than those settled in Peshawar.

He referred to the ‘flaws’ in the ongoing digital census, where there were several areas mainly in Karachi and Hyderabad, where the government enumerators had not reached and people remained uncounted.

“Similarly where the digital census was conducted, enumerators deliberately kept the number of population low. For instance a family of eight or nine is recorded as a unit of four or five people. Majority of high-rise residential buildings remains uncounted where people are still waiting for the enumerators,” he added.

He warned that with such flaws in the process, there was a strong fear that up to eight million of total population would remain uncounted and it would not serve the purpose of the multi-billion rupee exercise.

Dr Siddiqui added that it was the MQM-P which pushed the authorities to go for another census after serious flaws in National Census 2017.

“And if the numbers of urban areas are manipulated with a view to containing the population of major Sindh cities through manoeuvring, we, the party, would put resistance to it again. We would use every democratic and constitutional way to raise the voice at all relevant forums,” he vowed.

He said it was MQM-P which led middle and lower middle classes to the parliament and that posed a threat to “traditional, feudal and dynastic politics”. This was the main reason that his party was never provided a level playing field, he added.

“Again in this census, we are the only one who are challenging this flawed process through all possible means. That’s only for the rights of the middle and lower middle classes who’s not heard in any power corridors,” he added.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2023