Census monitoring: ‘Army should help carry out census in troubled areas’

Committees meet to discuss population count on April 5.

KARACHI:

The two Census Monitoring Committees — one of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the other consisting of Sindh’s nationalist parties and civil society organisations - demanded on Friday that the army’s should be enlisted in carrying out a census in the troubled urban areas of the province.

A nine-point joint declaration was released to the media at the Sindh information department office after the two monitoring committees met. The declaration stated that in view of the law and order situation, the military should be called to carry out the census.

The PPP committee is led by the media coordinator, Taj Haider and former Sindh Assembly speaker Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah. The chief of the Sindh United Party heads the other monitoring committee.

They also demanded a Sindh census commissioner be appointed immediately as the census would start from April 5.

They urged the government to ensure that only “legitimate” Pakistanis are registered while the “aliens” should be counted separately.

Only those census forms should be accepted that have been filled by the census staff. To ensure transparency, details should be posted online immediately after a house count. The census commissioner must also ensure that all flood survivors are registered.

Fake CNICs

The committees also discussed fake CNICs. Haider told the media that his party had already started preparing for the census but when Jalal Shah contacted him and offered to work together, they decided to hold a meeting. “We will also meet MQM and other parties to ensure transparency through their cooperation.” He said that the constitution allows the civilian government to call the military to control volatile situations and since there are certain urban areas across the province where the census staff feels insecure, the declaration incorporates the demand to call in the army.

Haider said that the Census Commission falls under the Council of Common Interests, so the Sindh government has approached the federal government to appoint the provincial commissioner.

Jalal Shah said that NADRA has recently reported that 1.3 million fake CNICs have been issued in Sindh. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2011.