Daily Times

Sir: Dear Karachiites, July 25 is near. An important day for the country in general and for Karachi in particular. As a member of the Pak Sarzameen Party and a contestant for the PS-128 seat, I am certain that the people of this megalopolis will reject the boycott call issued by a ‘lost glory’. Rest assured this letter is not on the big brother and his deplorable political legacy which is once again aiming to loot the city by selling his ‘Muhajir cause’ in the upcoming polls. Obviously, when you have no performance to cite, you have to revert back to your age old rhetoric.

Dear Karachi, the biggest injustice which happened with you lately is that you have been undercounted in this census. The census is not just a record for bookkeeping in fact it’s a compilation of data under which the resources are allocated. So let’s say if there are ten people in your house, and an authority has counted only five members, the due resources for your household will be given as stated in the record books. Our home, has been recorded as housing only 16 million people.

Let’s look at the facts now. When a PPP [Pakistan People’s Party] senator sought data from NADRA [National Database and Registration Authority] regarding Karachi’s population back in 2013, the population was found to be 21.4 million. Bear in mind that these stats represent data from five years ago. How then can the population today be more than five million less? It doesn’t one to be a genius to realize that there has to be some problem with the data collected, and provided to us by the government.

Now here comes the interesting bit. Despite knowing that the census department has been inefficient or more appropriately, and please allow me to say, dishonest to the people of Karachi,the same party’s former chief minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, approved of the census’ summary and endorsed the data within. To me this is nothing more than a crime by somebody who alludes to being from a party that is supposed to represent the people of Karachi. Their actions however say otherwise.

Now let’s take the role of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan in this case. The party filed a petition, it got rejected. It went back home and left the cause, leaving the city and its people abandoned. But we aren’t one of them. My party chief Syed Mustafa Kamal’s petition seeking a directive for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to re-allocate the seats of national and Sindh assemblies on the basis of fresh Nadra data has been approved for the hearing after election.

Karachi can never have its fair share without having its representative elected leadership in the legislatures. Our struggle continues. This is not the end of the road. Hopefully we will unearth the ones responsible for this criminal blunder. A new Pandora box will be opened soon. But Karachi do remember, no matter who you vote for. No matter who you stand with. It’s only us who are raising our voice for your rights. It doesn’t matter who you are, from where you originally belong. It doesn’t matter if you are Pashtun, Baloch orMuhajir. We all own this city. And our rights are shared.

Before you cast your vote, do take into consideration that among the rest there is only one party in this metropolis who don’t base their politics in identity or on a specific background. We will continue to stand for this city, for you and for your children. And we need your support.

TAHA AHMED KHAN

Karachi

Published in Daily Times, July 4^th 2018.