Daily Times

Sindh Chief Minister in a letter to the Prime Minister has expressed the province’s reservations over the population census figures.

“Sindh have reservations over approval of the population census results in the Council of Common Interest (CCI),” Chief Minister of Sindh Murad Ali Shah’s letter to the Prime Minister read.

The chief minister in his letter demanded a new population census forthwith. “Several millions of people in Sindh have not been counted in the population census held in year 2017. Sindh’s population has been over 60 million,” the chief minister said in the letter. “In census figures, the average number of the members of a family in Sindh has been delineated five members,” the letter read.

Sindh’s chief minister also referred survey reports of the UNICEF and other international institutions with regard to the population of the province.

The Council of Common Interest (CCI) had on Monday approved the results of 2017 national population census with majority votes and decided to hold the new census by the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shah has hinted at imposing further restrictions in the province as coronavirus cases continue to surge. Addressing a press conference in Karachi, he said that if the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) are not properly followed, the virus could rapidly spread across the province. Speaking about the current restrictions in place, he said that the transportation of goods has not been stopped by the government, while only public transport has been banned for the safety of the people. “If the situation gets critical, then the federation will be asked to impose more restrictions on public transport,” he said, adding that he had earlier requested the Centre to impose a ban on inter-provincial public transportation to contain the virus.

The chief minister said that [despite its efforts] the government of Sindh is unable to vaccinate as many people as it should. “This is a big failure [for the government],” adding that even if someone has been inoculated, they should continue to observe the government’s mandated SOPs to keep themselves safe.

Talking about the economic situation, Murad Ali Shah said that the growth rate in the country is less than one-and-a-half per cent. He further said that the government has liberated the State Bank of Pakistan, adding that the institution is “not accountable to anyone anymore.” “The Centre has made the SBP so powerful that no one can do anything about it,” Murad Ali Shah said.

He said that the federal government had promised the creation of five million jobs, but instead, unemployment is constantly rising in the country. “There are many more ways to get out of the economic crisis, but the country’s economic situation is in dire straits due to the policies of the current government,” he said.