MQM-P workers prepare for protest in Karachi against census results
Party chief Farooq Sattar has announced protest for November 5
November 04, 2017
KARACHI: Workers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan have started preparing for the protest they will be holding in Liaquatabad Sunday against census results.
The announcement for protest was made by MQM-P chief Farooq Sattar, according to whom the census was rigged to reduce employment opportunities for the people of Sindh. He had said that Karachi's population in actual is around 30 million, whereas according to the census it is 10.6 million.
MQM-P will be holding the protest despite being denied the permission by authorities concerned.
According to Sattar, the provincial government denied them the permission to hold rally on November 5 saying two rallies could not be held simultaneously. However, the MQM-P chief added, the other rally was of Grand Democratic Alliance against corruption while theirs would be against census results. During a news conference earlier, Sattar had said the protest would lose its effectiveness if delayed.
The protest was earlier announced to be held mid-September but was called off. Sources had said the party cancelled the protest due to the security threat to the party leaders. The MQM-P leaders are concerned about security ever since the attack on MPA Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan, sources had said.
Pakistan's total population has been recorded at 207.774 million, according to the provisional summary results of the sixth population and housing census.
The sixth Housing and Population Census began after a period of 19 years on March 15. The census was conducted in 16 districts of Punjab, eight districts of Sindh, 14 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 15 districts of Balochistan, five districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and five districts of Gilgit Baltistan.
