Move up census timeframe, SC tells government

Orders authorities to begin headcount by mid-March

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the federal government’s proposed timeframe for the long overdue population census, directing authorities to initiate the headcount process by mid-March instead of April next year.

The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali also warned the government that if it did not submit the revised timeframe at the next hearing, the prime minister will have to appear in person to justify the delay.



Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Ashtar Ausaf, in his written reply submitted before the top court bench, said the government plans to hold the census in two phases. The first phase, he said, will start in April with a house listing exercise while the second phase would begin in May.

“After a detailed review of the ground situation and the indication of the availability of troops by the armed forces, the government has proposed to the Council of Common Interest (CCI) its readiness to conduct the census in two phases starting from April 2017,” the written reply stated.

The bench, however, rejected the proposal and directed the government to begin the process from mid-March. It observed that holding elections without carrying out a population census would be a ‘mockery of the nation’.



The bench, however, expressed amazement that no political party had approached the Supreme Court with regards to such a significant issue. It appears that all parties prefer the status quo, it observed.

When the AGP stated that the census of provinces is necessary for holding the nationwide census, Justice Amir Hani Muslim remarked that the prime minister should inform the court if the federating units are not cooperating. He also observed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) may take a similar stance to that of the government and say it cannot hold elections without the army’s availability.



The CJP, meanwhile, observed that the credibility of democracy depends on proper headcounts. The bench asked the AGP to furnish a revised timeline for the census at the next hearing on December 7.

Despite it being mandatory under the Constitution to hold a census every 10 years, the last population count was held almost twice that duration ago in 1998. Successive governments have been postponing the exercise on one pretext or another. The current government has yet to get mandatory approval from CCI for the census schedule.

The federal government says it needs the army’s strong support to make the exercise credible, since special interest groups in provinces try to influence results to get more resources from the federal divisible pool.

Another crucial issue linked with the census is electoral politics as seats are allocated in federal and provincial legislatures on the basis of population.

The presence of Afghan refugees is a bone of contention with some political groups, especially those in Balochistan who fear changes in the province’s ethnic demographics.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2016.