Counting heads: BNP-A wants census postponed
Census workers being threatened, refuse to carry out the house survey.
QUETTA:
The Balochistan National Party Awami faction (BNP-Awami), a coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has filed a petition in Balochistan High Court requesting a postponement of the census in the province until the law and order situation in the province can be brought under control.
BNP-Awami leaders Syed Eshan Shah and Aasad Baloch filed the petition on Saturday. Several government employees who had been tasked to conduct the census, including teachers, in Makran and Kalat have refused to carry out their duties out of fear for their lives.
Baloch nationalist militants have been threatening government employees to dissuade them from carrying out the decennial census.
The census is preceded by a house survey as its preliminary phase, which is likely to cause problems of accuracy in Balochistan since thousands of people from Dera Bugti and Kohlu are still displaced as a result of the 2010 summer floods as well as the military operations against Baloch nationalists.
Conducting the census is a constitutional requirement, since the representation at various levels of government is determined by the number of people who live in a given area. By population, Balochistan is the smallest province, despite covering nearly 40 per cent of the country’s landmass.
The census, therefore, is likely to have a political impact since the provincial legislatures as well as Parliament are likely to be redistricted for the 2013 elections after the 2011 census data has been compiled.
The census is likely to have a political impact since the provincial legislatures as well as Parliament are likely to be redistricted for the 2013 elections. after the 2011 census data has been compiled. The court will begin hearings on the petition on Monday, April 18.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2011.
The Balochistan National Party Awami faction (BNP-Awami), a coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has filed a petition in Balochistan High Court requesting a postponement of the census in the province until the law and order situation in the province can be brought under control.
BNP-Awami leaders Syed Eshan Shah and Aasad Baloch filed the petition on Saturday. Several government employees who had been tasked to conduct the census, including teachers, in Makran and Kalat have refused to carry out their duties out of fear for their lives.
Baloch nationalist militants have been threatening government employees to dissuade them from carrying out the decennial census.
The census is preceded by a house survey as its preliminary phase, which is likely to cause problems of accuracy in Balochistan since thousands of people from Dera Bugti and Kohlu are still displaced as a result of the 2010 summer floods as well as the military operations against Baloch nationalists.
Conducting the census is a constitutional requirement, since the representation at various levels of government is determined by the number of people who live in a given area. By population, Balochistan is the smallest province, despite covering nearly 40 per cent of the country’s landmass.
The census, therefore, is likely to have a political impact since the provincial legislatures as well as Parliament are likely to be redistricted for the 2013 elections after the 2011 census data has been compiled.
The census is likely to have a political impact since the provincial legislatures as well as Parliament are likely to be redistricted for the 2013 elections. after the 2011 census data has been compiled. The court will begin hearings on the petition on Monday, April 18.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2011.