Sindh PA demands third-party audit of census

The Sindh Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution unanimously to seek a third-party audit of the country's five percent of the last census blocks, asking the Sindh Government to approach Federal government in this regard.

On the private members day, MQM's Kunwar Naveed Jameel tabled the resolution, which received a unanimous vote in the house. The mover said that the five percent of the country's census blocks should be audited by a third-party. He said that 'incorrect' census results cannot help solve the nation's problems. "We [MQM] have raised the issue on all levels," he said.

MQM's Javed Hanif said that Sindh will not receive its due share of resources if census turned out to be untrue. He asked as to who is defiant to implement the national assembly's resolutions, saying that everyone should voice concerns over the "wrong" census results. "Wrong head count is the root of all problems," Mufti Qasim Fakhri of the TLP told the house.

He said the city is deprived of its due share of resources despite it provides shelter to millions of people. "If resources are not allocated then how it will solve its problems," he said, calling the 'incorrect' census a gross 'injustice'. Sindh Information Minister, Saeed Ghani said the PPP had placed its reservations on the census before the last federal government in the National Assembly and Senate.

He said the last government of PML-N had overlooked Sindh reservations. According to him, Karachi's headcount was reduced from existing strength. He said the population influx into Sindh is far greater than in any other province. This reality was ignored in the census which is feared to exacerbate the sense of deprivation among people of Sindh.

Saeed Ghani told the house that a postmortem report of Sama Gul, who was killed in Dadu showed no evidence of rape or stoning. However, it showed that the girl was hit by a big stone that broke her neck-bone, causing her death, he added.