Kamal challenges provisional results of Census 2017 in SC

Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) on Wednesday challenged the provisional results of Census 2017 in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and pleaded for carrying out a third party audit to determine the actual population of Karachi, which he believed was understated in the census.
Chief PSP Mustafa Kamal challenged the provisional results of Census 2017 through a constitutional petition, filed in Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court. Federal Government, Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), Chairman National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) and others have been made respondents in the petition.
In the petition, Mustafa Kamal submitted before the court that Nadra's record indicated Karachi's population at 21.5 million whereas it was shown to be around 16 million in the census. The petition stated that many areas of the city were left out while counting the citizens of the city in the national census and alleged that population of Karachi was deliberately reduced, which reflects a clear prejudice on part of the authorities towards Karachi.
The petitioner pleaded that third party audit should be undertaken to determine the actual population of the city and pointed out that understated population of metropolis in the census would deprive the city from its rightful share in national resources resultantly, accumulating the problems of citizens of Karachi.
The petition also pleaded for increasing National and Sindh Assemblies seats in Karachi in proportion with the actual population of the city. Petitioner Mustafa Kamal stated that census figures showed that Lahore population increased at the rate of three percent whereas Karachi's population was shown to grow at 1.5 percent, which, he said, is unrealistic. He said that his party had strong reservation over national census right from the first day and moved SC to look into this issue to get Karachi its due share in national resources.
Talking to media outside SC's Karachi Registry, Mustafa Kamal appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to admit the petition about Karachi's population in the census. He also deplored the role of the Sindh Chief Minister and added that he should have taken up the issue when census results were announced.
He dispelled that impression that moving the court on Karachi's population is linked to any plan to delay the election and said that he already raised the issue in the court, but filed the petition with all relevant data and facts this time. Mustafa also complained about problems related to issuance of CNIC to people of Karachi and urged Nadra to take appropriate measures for issuance of CNIC to citizens of the city without any hindrance.