Pak govt's acceptance of 2017 census has ended MQM-P's option to cooperate, says party leader

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 25 (ANI): The Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), which is in alliance with the ruling PTI, has raised objections to Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government accepting the controversial 2017 census despite its reservations, with party leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui saying that this decision has ended their "option to cooperate with the government".
The MQM-P leader said that the party had formed a coalition with Khan-led government "on the basis of the census", but "despite MQM's reservations against the results of the census, the federal government went ahead and approved it."
"Why are we even part of the government, to begin with? Will people have to demand all their rights by taking to the streets," he questioned.
According to Geo News, Siddiqui on Thursday said that in the 2017 census, the population of Sindh's major cities was shown to be 25 per cent less than the actual count.
"Our doubts related to the inaccuracy of the 2017 census have proven to be true now... We had gone to courts to register our concerns even before the census had begun," he said.
"If they cannot count us correctly, how would they give us our rights," he asked.
"It looks like we are left with no other option but to take to the streets. In Karachi, people younger than the age of 18 were not even counted," he added.
Siddiqui's comments came after the federal cabinet on Wednesday authorised the submission of the Sixth Population and Housing Census, 2017, report for the final approval of the Council of Common Interests, Geo News reported.
Geo News further quoted him saying that the option to cooperate with the government has ended after the approval of the controversial census. "Census is a matter of life and death to the people of Sindh's urban centre," he said. (ANI)