Sindh Seeks Joint Sitting Of Parliament Against Census Results

The Sindh government has filed a reference under the relevant article of the Constitution to convene a joint sitting of Parliament against the results of the census approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

According to the report, the Sindh government has termed the census results approved by the CCI as controversial and flawed.

In a letter to the Chairman of the Senate and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the approval of the controversial and flawed Census 2017 was discussed and decided unanimously in a recent Sindh Cabinet meeting that the matter is referred to a joint sitting of Parliament for a final decision.

“You are requested to bring this matter before a joint sitting of Parliament under the Constitution,” the letter said.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also sent a letter to the President and the Prime Minister to convene an immediate joint sitting of Parliament to resolve the issues raised by the government.

The letter said that unfortunately the committee formed by the federal cabinet on the results of the census submitted a “unilateral” report instead of resolving or meeting the concerns of the provinces.

“It is even more unfortunate that the federal cabinet approved the report on December 23, 2020,” he said.

The letter assured that the Sindh Chief Minister had expressed reservations when the committee was formed.

The letter said that the Federal Minister for Planning and Development had supported this view, so the CCI unanimously decided that the committee would address the concerns of the provinces.

He said that it was our duty to state here that we would accept the decisions of the CCI while the Prime Minister is not only the head of the federal government but also the chairman of the CCI.

“Unfortunately, for the first time since the formation of the CCI, the decision on any issue of national interest was not taken unanimously but by a majority,” the letter said.

The letter quoted the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey as saying that the average number of household members in Sindh and Balochistan is 7.2 and 7.7 respectively, but according to the census results, the average household in Sindh and Balochistan includes 5.64 and 7.06 members respectively.

The letter further read, “Based on this, the total population of Sindh will be 61,041,938 as compared to 47,854,510 in the 2017 census.

The letter further said that in the same way, according to the census in Balochistan, it will be 1,34,44,153 as compared to 1,23,35,129.

He said that the total population of Pakistan would also be 21047,057 as compared to 206,688,214 according to the 2017 census.

The letter said that if the federal or provincial government is not satisfied with the decision of the council, it should refer the matter to a joint sitting of parliament, which has finalized the decision.

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