Taj Haider calls JI’s allegation about census process ‘unfair’

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KARACHI, April 17 (APP): Pakistan People’s Party leader Senator Taj Haider said on Monday that the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) allegation that the PPP was trying to manipulate the people of Karachis was unfair.

The PP leader, in a statement, reminded JI that on the directive of his leadership, he visited the offices of JI and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and presented them with his book Sindh ka Muqadma, Census 2017 and documents to support. Hafiz Naeem Sahib had received the materials himself, he added.

Senator Taj said the book dealt extensively with population undercount across the province. Karachi being the capital of Sindh has been worked out and a table of its population in 2013 as obtained from the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) has been printed on its page 26.

He said it was Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah who resisted pressure to validate the controversial 2017 census undercount. It was through his efforts that the Pakistani government Tehreek-e -Insaf (PTI) at the time had to agree to hold a new census.

Unfortunately, he said, “Hafiz Naeem does not realize that Sindh also exists beyond Sohrab Goth.” However, it was because of PPP protests that the PTI government had to add a representative from Sindh to the 12-member advisory council on the new census.

The Pakistan Statistics Board (PBS), he alleged, had already prepared its mischievous working paper establishing its counting methodology as de jure and not de facto, thus repeating the plot that made the 2017 census controversial.

The PPP, he added, has consistently challenged this conspiracy. In a meeting at CM House held on August 1, 2022, the Chief Minister of Sindh convinced the PBS that the de facto methodology of counting was the right one, the questionnaire needed to be simplified and the purchased tablets were a waste of time and money. .

Subsequently, the CM held numerous meetings with the Federal Minister of Planning and Development, during which Sindh’s logical position was reiterated. All these meetings were reported in the national media.

He said recently that a conference of all parties was organized by the PPP on the issue of the census. Four Sindh PPP senators have submitted a resolution to the Senate on the issue, which after a long delay is now before its Planning and Development Standing Committee, he added.

Senator Taj said the census undercount was a very serious problem, which could not be corrected if the current count methodology and moth-eaten cards continued to be used.

He said that using figures from the MICS survey conducted by UNICEF, “the population of Sindh stands at over 64 million instead of 49 million as expected after a count of 92%. This may also be verified by NADRA figures although NADRA has yet to issue national identity cards to about 4% of families.Some Rs 35 billion spent on the census has been wasted.

“The days of fooling around with numbers are over. We must find reliable alternatives together. I hope JI’s most respected leaders are listening this time around,” Senator Taj concluded.

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