Nationalists to launch movement if census delayed

Karachi

Sindhi nationalist leaders will launch a movement against the government if the upcoming census is postponed in Sindh, observed a meeting held at the Haider Manzil on Thursday.

The meeting was presided over by Jalal Mehmood Shah, chief of the Sindh United Party, and the participants submitted recommendations regarding the forthcoming census.

They urged the government to immediately announce the date for holding the census and advised that the matter should be taken to the Council of Common Interest, which would have its meeting on Friday (today).

The participants included Dr Niaz Kalani, Shafi Jamot, Riaz Chandio and Amanullah Sheikh.

Briefing the media, Jalal Mehmood Shah said a campaign launched in sixteen districts of the province, “Sindh Bachao, Mardam Shumari Karao (Save Sindh, Hold Census)”, had created a mass movement for creating awareness regarding the importance of census.

The monitoring committee of the census had demanded of the federal government to announce the date in the upcoming meeting of the Council of Common Interest on Friday, he said, adding that any delay would tantamount to be an anti-Sindh policy which would not be tolerated by the people of the province.

He said any delay in holding census would make them believe that both the federal and provincial governments had undertaken a secret deal and the prime minister instead representing the federation was only safeguarding the rights of the province of Punjab.