Population census put on CCI agenda

CCI moot, scheduled for Feb 29, will also review decisions taken in last meeting

ISLAMABAD: Apparently giving in to political pressure, the government on Tuesday decided to incorporate the issue of much-delayed population census in the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI).

Interestingly, earlier there was no mention of the census in the tentative agenda of the CCI meeting, scheduled to be held on February 29 after a lapse of almost one year.

However, pressure exerted by different political parties compelled the government to make census the focal point for discussion in the new agenda available with The Express Tribune.

In the last CCI meeting in March 2015, a 12-month deadline was set to make arrangements and preparations for holding the headcount, which is due since 1998. It was also decided to seek the help of the army in conducting the census.

According to the summary finalised by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) last year, the population census was to be conducted in one-go in March 2016.

The first three days were to be dedicated for a house-listing operation while 15 subsequent days were earmarked for the main count as per the data – which includes filing of census forms on house-to-house level. One day was dedicated for homeless people, the summary said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2016.