• Leaders see ‘uncalled for’ exercise as conspiracy against Sindhis
• Early enumeration termed violation of Constitution

HYDERABAD: The Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) and Awami Tehreek (AT) have expressed their strong reservations over move to hold digital census in Sindh years ahead of its scheduled time and described it as a violation of the Constitution.

Both the parties have been running separate campaigns against the move and plan to intensify their respective movements if the proposed exercise is not shelved.

STP chairman Dr Qadir Magsi has demanded putting a stop to controversial digital census being carried out ahead of its scheduled time as part of a conspiracy against Sindh.

It appeared this census would be a repeat of result transmission system (RTS) introduced in the general election 2018 and such a census would not be accepted, which produced fudged figures. If the exercise was not stopped then hunger strike would be observed outside Karachi Press Club on March 4, he warned.

Dr Magsi said at a news conference at his party’s office on Tuesday that the people who could barely use mobile phones were supposed to use tablets for the enumeration process in the census.

He asked how the people who were displaced after last year’s floods would be counted. The condition of CNIC had been dropped for the census, allowing all illegal immigrants and outsiders from other provinces to get themselves counted as Sindh’s residents, he said.

He said the residents would also not be required to disclose their actual address of domicile. Two million people were settled in Sindh during the operation launched in Wana and Waziristan in addition to Afghan refugees and they had never returned since, he claimed.

He said that this census appeared to be a conspiracy rather than a planning for the country. The census staff should have been trained for at least 60 days which was not done and it showed the exercise was to be wound up in shorter time, he said.

Dr Magsi said that enumeration should have continued for 90 days and immigrants and other provinces’ residents should have been counted separately to reflect actual number of outsiders in Sindh.

He asked as to why Afghans were not being repatriated to their country where peace had been restored. The purpose of holding the census in haste was to deprive Sindhis of their right to rule, he said.

He claimed that according to information disclosed by enumerators, they would attempt to record Karachi’s population at 35 million by counting outsiders in order to end Sindhis’ participation in politics. Such census would not be accepted, he said.

He said that Sindh’s permanent residents — Sindhi- and Urdu-speaking people — had a right to be elected right from union committee to provincial and national assemblies in Sindh. This census was being held on the desire of MQM-P and Imran Khan, who had allowed Afghans’ settlement in the province, he claimed.

He said that Pakistan Peoples Party was part of the conspiracy to get outsiders counted in the census in order to get more funds, and asked what sort of development PPP had made in Sindh out of the funds of NFC. PPP would spend the money released for flood-hit people and NFC funds on general election 2023, he apprehended.

He reiterated that Asif Ali Zardari wanted to get Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari elected as prime minister in lieu of bargain over Sindh.

AT seminar

Speakers at a seminar held at local press club on Tuesday opposed preparations for carrying out digital census in the province terming it unconstitutional and part of an international conspiracy to convert Sindhis into a minority within their own province.

The seminar was organised by the Awami Tehreek (AT).

AT president Lal Jarwar, Awami Workers Party (AWP) general secretary Dr Bakhshal Thallu, Porhiyat Muza-hemat Tehreek leader Masroor Shah, Sindh Sahafi Ittehad leader Naimat Khuhro, journalists G.N. Mughal and Dastagir Bhatti, Zulfikar Halepoto, Sindhiani Teh-reek president Ms Umra Samoo, Sindhi Hari Tehreek president Dr Dildar Leghari and others wondered that how could the census be held amid such conditions when many villages were still under water and cities remained disconnected in the province.

They said that Balochistan, Sindh and Seraiki areas were badly hit by floods and houses were destroyed, rendering people homeless.

Jarwar said the census being held ahead of its scheduled time was a sheer violation of Pakis-tan’s constitution. Rulers were violating the law of the land by holding the digital census, he said.

He said the government planned to spend Rs35 billion on the exercise which should have been utilised on the rehabilitation of flood-hit people. It was the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government, which got the digital census approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to undermine Sindh’s integrity, he said.

He said the census had no legal sanctity and claimed that imperialist powers were trying to create a new ‘Israel’ in Sindh through this census, which was being held as per desire of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakis-tan (MQM-P) and was aimed at converting Sindhis into a minority.

He accused the federal government of running away from elections and wasting money on the illegal and unconstitutional census.

AT secretary general Noor Ahmed Katiar said the census was an attempt to legalise millions of illegal immigrants, who should have been expelled as per Supreme Court’s orders. But the government planned to count them in the census as Sindh’s residents, he said, adding the exercise was also a violation of SC’s orders.

AT central leader Qadir Ranto said that according to constitution the census was to be held every 10 years and was due in 2027 as the last census was held in 2017 but the government was conducting it ahead of the prescribed date to appease MQM-P.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2023