KARACHI: The Sindh Census Monitoring Committee has criticised the Council of Common Interests for adjourning its Feb 29 meeting for a fourth time without fixing a census date. The SCMC severely criticised both the Nawaz Sharif and Syed Qaim Ali Shah governments for the delay in holding census and demanded that it be held soon to expose the “fake majority” of Punjab.
This was stated by Sindh United Party chief Syed Jalal Mehmoud Shah while briefing the media on the decisions taken by the SCMC, which met here at Hyder Manzil on Wednesday.
The SCMC, comprising representatives of nine nationalist parties, civil society organisations, writers and media people, said Nawaz Sharif was playing the role of the prime minister of Punjab, which was contrary to the concept of the federation.
The meeting was of the view that the Sindh government and its chief minister, instead of pleading the Sindh case at the CCI meeting on Feb 29 forcefully enough, were trying to fool the people by offering excuses in the assembly about delay in census. This attitude has annoyed the people of Sindh, who were now protesting against the double standards of the PPP government, he said.
Demanding that the federal and Sindh governments announce the date for holding census at the earliest, the meeting noted that the CCI’s constitutional position was being negated by taking over the CCI through the inter-provincial ministry. Therefore, the meeting called for winding up the ministry and setting up a permanent secretariat of the CCI, whose minister be appointed from the smaller provinces .
The meeting also decided to launch an awareness campaign on March 10 and to continue it to March 17 in different districts as per a schedule in Kashmore, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Dadu and Jamshoro to press the authorities for holding census, he said.
He said that by another decision the meeting asked the sub-committee headed by member of the provincial assembly Mehtab Akbar Rashdi to call on the Sindh chief minister to get information about proceedings of the CCI and also meet Senate chairman Raza Rabbani to present him a memorandum on census and ask him to take up the case of Sindh with the federal government.
Those present at the meeting included Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, Dr Niaz Kalani, Rashid Mehmood Soomro, Haji Shafi Jamote, Riaz Chandio, Javed Qazi, Noor Nabi Rahujo, Ali Nawaz Butt, Nawaz Zanor, Ejaz Samito, Qamar Bhatti, Khuda Dino Shah, Noor Ahmad Memon, Akbar Soomro and Shaukat Ali Sanbhal. www.dawn.com/news/1243146/demand-for-census-to-expose-punjabs-fake-majority
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