Dodging the census

A national census every ten years is a primary planning tool in virtually every developed nation as well as a majority of developing states. In a world where demographics are shifting, sometimes rapidly, a census is essential if governments are to respond appropriately to emerging trends — but not in Pakistan. Successive governments have all managed to kick census-taking into the long grass and the incumbent government is no different. The reasons — and there are many — are clear enough. The delimitation of boundaries especially in urban areas where the demographics as well as the ethnic composition have changed dramatically since the last census is perhaps the largest political hot potato. Sindh and Balochistan in particular have seen significant changes, and some of the migrations from rural to urban in Punjab have changed the shape of politics in areas where for generations the demographic was essentially static.



For the timorous politicians of Pakistan — and the affliction crosses party boundaries — the fear is that their vote banks are going to be changed or threatened by boundary changes and a re-imaging of the demographic nationally. As Pakistan develops — and it is developing despite what the naysayers would have us believe — then it is inevitably changing. That reality cannot be denied forever yet it is that denial that this government perpetuates by eternally delaying the census. The all-purpose excuse for this is that there can be no census without the support of the army and the army is just too busy with security commitments and the protection of our borders to release sufficient personnel to support a census-taking.

Whilst it is understood that the support of the military is essential it is not beyond the current planning capacity of both the military and civil powers to organise a census. The exercise is time-limited and the military can go back to their duties elsewhere once it is completed. The government is once again to consult the Council for Common Interest, another foot-dragging exercise, and the census is no more likely to happen in March 2017 than it ever was. Denial of uncomfortable realities has become the hallmark of bad governance.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2016.

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