ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party former secretary information Senator Taj Haider strongly protested the decision of the government to get the ‘disputed results’ of census validated from the Council of Common Interests.

Senator Taj Haider said that the move was in complete negation to the agreement reached between the heads of Parliamentary parties wherein it was decided that recount of 5 per cent blocks would be conducted as per the agreed mechanism but the PML-N led government’s decision to get validated the census results from the CCI was in negation to what was agreed between the political parties for holding of general elections on the provincial voters list.

He raised serious concerns over the summary being presented by the Statistics Division at the CCI meeting hurriedly called on Sunday was in gross violation of the agreement signed by leaders of all political parties in the Senate calling for recount in 5 per cent blocks through a method that counted every resident in a household.

The agreement was concluded in a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and was guaranteed to be followed in ‘letter and spirit’ by none other than Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq Sahib on the floor of the Upper House. 

Senator Taj Haider said that the gross undercount in Sindh and FATA not only deprives the people of these areas of true representation in elected houses, their true share in divisible resources and job quotas but cuts at the roots of the federation by insulting the consensus reached in the House of the Federation.

The fraudulent de-jure method employed in Census 2017 records migrants in their provinces of origin and does not count illegal residents at all. The non-provision of employment opportunities in three provinces of the country had pushed more than 20 million migrant workers to Sindh.

Sixty per cent of the patients getting treatment in public hospitals in Sindh came from other provinces, since hardly any proper medical facilities had been provided in these provinces. The exclusion of all of the migrants and illegal residents in Sindh from its population is going to cost a reduction of an average of 50 billion per year from the Federal Divisible Pool in Sindh’s share during the next 10 years. 

The reduction of around five million people from FATA’s population is not understandable. Similarly how it was possible that Islamabad’s population showed a high increase if the de-jure count principle was applied, since almost all residents of Islamabad, except those of old villages had migrated from other provinces.  It was clear that double and triple standards and methods had been applied with ulterior motives by the Statistics Division in Census 2017. 

Senator Taj Haider recalled that when the present government had blatantly violated the All Parties Agreement on the route of CPEC, the senators from Sindh in the Senate Committee on CPEC as well as those from Sindh who were not committee members had raised a strong voice on the injustice being done to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. In doing so these senators had ignored the advantages to Sindh if the route passed through Sindh and the Karachi Deep Sea Port became the major port of handling CPEC cargo.  Sindh now looked up to the other provinces especially to the Chief Ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to protest against the injustice being done to Sindh. 

Senator Taj Haider concluded that a united stand of the smaller province in rejecting the summary of the Statistics Division and upholding the commitment to the nation of recount in 5 per cent blocks, on the forum of the CCI will go a long way in strengthening the federation and protecting the constitutional rights of the smaller Provinces.