Man arrested in capital for arguing with census team

First part of the second phase ends, second part to begin later this month

ISLAMABAD: Police on Monday booked a man who allegedly argued and exchanged harsh words with census officials in Ghauri Town on Sunday.

Raja Kamran Shahzad was arrested soon after the army officials lodged a complaint against him with the Koral police. He, however, was released on bail on Monday.

A police officer told The Express Tribune that the suspect had exchanged few harsh words with the team, which led to his arrest.

“Usually on Sunday, people wake up late in the morning. The census team rang the doorbell two-three times and were frustrated when nobody came out,” a police officer said. He added that when the man finally emerged from his home, enumerators complained how they had been waiting for him for a while. The resident, census officials and the army official escorting the team got into an argument over the matter and allegedly exchanged harsh words.

The enumerators subsequently lodged a complaint with the police who were quick to book the man and arrest him. The suspect was produced before a magistrate on Monday where the police told the court that he was no longer required for investigation. The suspect applied for post-arrest bail, which the court allowed. This is not the first incident involving enumerators in the capital.

Earlier on April 30, a government official had been arrested for allegedly obstructing and quarrelling with a census team in Sector G-10. That incident too, coincidentally, took place on a Sunday morning.

First part ends

The first part of the headcount exercise under the second phase of the 6th population census concluded on Monday.

Census in the capital had begun on April 25 simultaneously with 88 districts of the country under the second phase of the national exercise.  In this part of the exercise, enumerators listed all the houses and headcounts in the first block.

As per the activity calendar, the census teams would start the house-listing operation for the second block under Phase-II from May 11 to May 13, followed by filling form-2 for next ten days from May 14 to May 23 while the homeless would be counted on May 25.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP’

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2017.