Karachi - Top political foes in the Sindh province, MQM-P and PPP, on Wednesday came together for a joint cause against the federal government, controversial 2017 census process, despite the former being part of the coalition government in Centre. 

A day after Bilawal Bhutto announced to approach government’s coalition partners over reservations on census process, the PPP delegation headed by Taj Haider and accompanied by Saeed Ghani and Waqar Mehdi visited MQM-P headquarters in Bahadurabad, where they were received by MPAs Khawaja Izharul Hassan, Muhammad Hussain and members of coordination committee Faisal Sabzwari and Javed Hanif.

After an hour-long huddle, the two sides announced to remain in touch with each other over the matter besides also demanding implementation of the agreement reached between the parliamentary parties for rectifying errors in 2017 census.

Talking to media after the meeting, Taj Haider said that although there are differences between the two sides over various issues, but they had visited the MQM-P leaders to devise a joint strategy to deal with a common problem.  He said that both sides have agreed to not accept the results of the 2017 Census process and would demand a recount on five percent population block.  

“People who belonged to other provinces and are living in Sindh were not counted in the process,” he pointed while adding that the population of Karachi was reduced by 14 million.

Reduction in population will create issues in proper distribution of resources, Mr Haider said, adding that both MQM-P and PPP had a consensus over issues relating to islands, census and medical colleges.  Taj Haider said that they have decided to put forward the public interest ahead of anything and will extend cooperation in resolving issues faced by the people of the province.

The MQM-P while detailing the meeting said that it apprised the visiting delegation that they had already approached the court regarding their reservations on the census process and briefed them over its details.

“Our concerns have proved right,” the MQM-P said after the federal cabinet okayed the 2017 census report.  The PPP also apprised regarding their efforts in overturning the controversial census process including raising the matter at parliamentary forums and in Council of Common Interest (CCI), the MQM-P said while detailing the issues discussed during the meeting.

The federal coalition partner hoped that the Chief Minister Sindh will fought the case of the province on census process in the CCI as even proper delimitation process was not possible due to errors in the entire population count.

It was agreed accepting such census results are aimed at halting the development process in the province and any targets regarding development could not be achieved after the controversial process.