The country’s chief statistician on Thursday told a Senate panel that the seventh census could not be completed until December 31.
During a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs chaired by PPP’s Taj Haider, Dr Naeem Uz Zafar, the chief statistician at the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), said the inclusion of army personnel in the census was against the law.
He claimed that army personnel were collecting all the census data parallel to the PBS staff.
“After meeting with the political parties of Sindh and Punjab, I will take them into confidence on the digital census.”
The chief statistician added that a coordination centre had been set up – on the lines of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19 -- where all stakeholders could review the results.
“The security agencies will have no role in the new census. They will only provide security.”
PPP’s Farooq Naek pointed out that if the census was not completed by December, elections could not be held.
To this Sania Nishtar of the PTI replied that if the new census was not completed, elections could be held based on the results of the 2017 census.
Chairman Taj Haider claimed that what was happening in the census was based on malice only.
He added that Sindh's population was not being counted correctly.
“Animals are being counted but not Sindhis,” he added.
He warned that all political parties in Sindh would be on the streets.
“Listen to the white-haired people of Sindh. Otherwise Sindhis with a million hairs will not listen to you tomorrow.”
Senator Waleed Iqbal of the PTI inquired as to would the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) be ready for elections by October 2022.
The ECP secretary replied that the Supreme Court had observed that after the delimitation, they would be ready for the elections at the end of October.
Earlier, senators and MNAs from Balochistan raised objections to the new delimitation of the province. They were of the view that due to the new delimitation there are many contradictions in the constituencies.
Senator Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar complained that most politicians were influential and used their powers to form new constituencies without any reason.
“One's victory or defeat in the election is linked to the constituencies. It has a great impact on the election results.”
Taj Haider noted that that there was significant difference in the population of Balochistan and its constituencies. “The law allows for a reduction of up to 10%.”
Senator Naek inquired as to under which census would the general elections 2023 be held.
The ECP secretary told him that that there were indications that the digital census would be conducted from August this year.
He added that the government had been asked to publish the results of the digital census by December 31.
Senator Naek noted that according to the decision of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), delimitation could be carried out only on basis of the seventh census.
PTI Senator Ali Zafar said until the completion of the seventh census, the delimitation would be on the basis of the sixth census only.
“The decision of the Council of Common Interests cannot be above the Constitution.”
Taj Haider said it was expected that elections would be held in accordance with law in the future.
After discussing the issue, the committee unanimously suggested that the 2018 delimitation of Balochistan should be maintained as per the 2017 census until a new one was conducted.
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