Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar on Saturday claimed that the recently conducted population census in Karachi and Hyderabad was fraudulent.
While addressing a press conference in Karachi outside the Anti-Terrorism Court, he said that efforts were being made to keep residents of Karachi from voting in the upcoming General Election 2018.
Farooq Sattar further added that authorities have continued to arrest his party's workers, adding that raids are also yet to stop.
He said, "We are concerned about the atmosphere of fear that has been created for [our] workers."
"We want to know why are these unjustified arrests being made? Why are raids being contacted?", Sattar questioned.
The MQM-P leader, who recently sort out the difference with the Bahadurabad group to contest elections under the same election symbol of kite, claimed that the party's workers and voters were unable to 'freely participate' in the election process.
He added, "Karachi's population was listed as less than half of the actual number in the census result. The arrests of our workers are indicators of pre-poll rigging."
Moreover, he stated that it seemed obvious that a few political parties were 'favourites.'
Farooq Sattar said, "You will only see banners of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other parties in Karachi. Our banners have been removed from different parts of the city."