KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has swallowed the bitter pill of supporting an amendment to the Constitution for starting the process of delimitation of constituencies on the basis of provisional results of the census so that elections could be held on time.

Talking to the media after attending a reception hosted by the ambassador of Azerbaijan to celebrate 25 years of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan at a local hotel on Thursday, the chief minister criticised the federal government for carrying out the work of census at snail’s pace.

“Had it [the federal government] done the census assignment on a fast-track basis, the amendment to the Constitution would have not been required,” Mr Shah said, adding that the PPP had swallowed the bitter pill and agreed to amend the Constitution so that delimitation of constituencies could be made on the basis of provisional census results, though “we have serious reservations over the results”.

“We are a political party and we cannot afford a delay in holding of general elections,” the chief minister said.

Referring to the MQM-PSP tussle, the chief minister said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Pak Sarzameen Party were trying to muster support of the people of Karachi and in this effort the MQM-P had again raised the issue of a separate province, though Muttahida leaders knew very well that Sindh could not be sliced into two provinces.

Mr Shah said that the MQM-P was fighting for its survival as its leaders had lost their political base and now their workers, leaders and well-wishers were with the PPP because the PPP government had restored peace and normalcy in Karachi.

The chief minister asserted that the PPP had gained a vast political base in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur.

“The PPP is a genuine political and secular force and it is much above linguistic, sectarian and religious considerations,” Mr Shah said, adding that under the umbrella of the PPP, people of different religions, sects, languages and schools of thought were united and that was the reason why it was called a federal party.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2017