Sindh accuses Centre of population undercount.

KARACHI -- Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has accused the federal government of undercounting the population of Sindh province, warning that the provincial government will have to reject the recent census if the federal government does not address its concerns.

'The actual population of Sindh is 64.4 million while the federal government has projected it to be 57.6 million which shows that 6.8 million people have not been enumerated. This is not a small difference,' Shah told a press conference on Thursday.

He said the purpose of conducting a census within a period of five years was to make accurate, foolproof, and scientific enumeration but the recent census had proved to be defective and unacceptable.

The CM said last night a meeting was held in Islamabad in which he was not invited but the chief secretary attended it. He said the meeting decided-without taking him into confidence-to close the census exercise everywhere with effect from May 15 except Punjab.

Shah said if the census was meant to be conducted on the basis of population growth rate then there was no need to carry out such an expensive exercise.

'Under the law, the census is conducted every 10 years. The last census was conducted in 2017 but it was defective and I made a hue and cry about it at the Council of Common Interest (CCI) and later the federal government announced repeating the exercise again in 2023 [prior to polls].

'Now this census of 2023 is also proving to be defective and controversial. Therefore, the federal government must rectify its shortcomings to the satisfaction of the provincial governments,' he said.

'Otherwise,' he warned, 'his government would have no option but to reject it.'

During the presentation, Shah displayed slides featuring screenshots from enumerators' tablets, revealing a disconcerting pattern. One slide notably displayed the message, "Today is May 17, 2023 - the enumeration in Block [Taluka Jati, District Sujawal] can be started between March 1 and 11, 2023."

Similar anomalies were observed in various blocks, such as Daro Satah in Tando Allahyar, Muradi in Shahdadkot, and Circle-9 in Umerkot, where...