Strike in Sindh against 'bogus house count

KARACHI A complete strike was observed across the Sindh province, including in many areas of the Karachi metropolis, on Saturday against alleged irregularities in the ongoing process of house counting in the first phase of population census. The Census Monitoring Committee, comprising Sindhi nationalist parties, has termed the strike successful in the province. They had appealed to the people to shut their business and keep vehicles off the roads. According to reports, many areas of the Karachi city, including some portion of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Lyari, Quaid Abad and Saddar, remained partially shut, while Sindhi population-dominated areas Sachal Goth, Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Shanti Nagar and other parts of city observed a complete strike. Political parties, including ANP, which has dominance in many areas and in the transport sector, Sunni Tehreek, PML-N, JUI-F, Jamaat-e-Islami, JUP, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and others supported the strike call of the Sindhi nationalist parities. However, the public transport was also thin on the city roads. Buses and coaches which enter the city from rural areas also remained off the road. All nationalists parties including Awami Tehreek, Sindh United Party, Sindh Taraqi Passand Party, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mohaz, Jeay Sindh Mohaz, Jeay Sindh Tehreek, Save Sindh Movement, Awami Jamhoori Party and other political groups and civil society organisations under the umbrella of Census Monitoring Committee also demanded that the federal government should officially annul the ongoing process of housing census. Meanwhile, Awami Tehreek and Sindhiani Tehreek organised protest demonstrations in different cities of the province, including Karachi, against alleged irregularities in house counting. When contacted, President of Awami Tehreek Advocate Ayaz Latif Palijo told TheNation that Sindh observed a complete strike, rejecting the bogus process of house counting. He said that the people of Sindh have voted in the form of referendum against the fraud in the census process, demanding the government declare house count null and void and revisit all the exercise in a transparent manner, otherwise the people of Sindh will boycott the whole process of the census. Expressing grievances over the ongoing process, nationalist leaders also demanded that there should be separate registration of illegal immigrants, besides those who migrated to the province for financial reasons, must be treated outsiders.