Resolution against digital census

House expresses concerns over process, demands extension in time period

KARACHI:

After the controversy over the digital census, Sindh Assembly on Monday adopted a resolution expressing serious concerns over the process.

It demanded to extend the date of self-enumeration, the period for house listing and head counting.

Amidst the opposition protest, the Minister of Irrigation Jam Khan Shoro moved the resolution and said that the seventh housing and population census should be carried out strictly by the law, fairly and transparently to reflect the actual headcount of the people living in Pakistan.

He said there wasn't sufficient publicity and media coverage given to the ongoing digital census.

"The people of Sindh were also kept in the dark about the outcome of the pilot census, which was conducted in July 2022," he remarked.

During the current exercise, the authorities concerned are reluctant to give a proper response to the Sindh government about access to the data set, stated the resolution.

"The dashboard is also not operational, which casts serious doubt on the quality and quantity of enumeration," reads the resolution.

The opposition members belonging to PTI, however, protested over the reason and questioned why it was being moved out of order in the session where the pre-budget debate was going on. But Shoro, while reading the resolution, said that after the monsoon calamity, the people of the province were still recovering from the devastating floods in which 2.1 million homes were damaged, out of which 1.4 million houses were destroyed, and the families displaced.

The resolution says that the census plan did not have any contingencies in place to count such houses, or to mark and geo-tag them as required.

Similarly, no mechanism has been shown for seasonal migrations of a considerable population in the province. "In light of the above, this House resolves that the Government of Sindh should approach the Federal Government to extend the date of self-enumeration, the period for house listing and head counting," it reads.

Speaking on the issue, Shoro drew the House's attention towards other anomalies in the process, saying it was made in haste.

The officers of the district administration have also raised concerns about flaws in block formation, inconsistencies in the provided maps, and the on-ground situation, he continued.

"Individual households should be given access to their private information, which is being captured through the census exercise so that the credibility of the entire exercise is maintained," the resolution suggests.

Abdul Razzaque Rahimoon of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) said that people living in his constituency in Tharparkar had limited or not access to internet and hence unable to take part in the digital process.

"Phones are not working in our areas because of signal issues. What kind of digital process is it," he said.

Earlier, Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf's (PTI) Khurrum Sher Zaman referred to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government in the Centre and asked Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ministers to take up this issue with their coalition partners in Islamabad rather than creating a fuss over it in the House.

He suggested continuing the pre-budget debate and opposed the resolution.

Drama in the House

During the pre-budget debate, treasury and opposition members made allegations regarding misappropriation of funds.

The situation turned dramatic when PTI MPA Firdous Shamim Naqvi addressed the House. During a charged speech, Naqvi first took off his cap and then unbuttoned his Sherwani. He said it was in solidarity with the people who had been hit hard by inflation.

It resulted in cantankerous scenes with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani urging lawmakers to sit down and asking Naqvi to button up his collar.

Naqvi responded that the price of bread had increased by Rs20 and onion was sold at Rs108 per kg.

"Today, the legs of the poor are trembling trembled due to inflation," he added.

He suggested that all cultivable government land should be handed over to farmers.

PPP's Imdad Patafi hit back at the PTI MPA, saying he should have protested when the PTI government was in power.

Meanwhile, PPP's Sharmila Farooqui suggested setting up a housing scheme for slums in Karachi. She also underscored the need for a master plan.

PTI members also protested against the revocation of a private news channel by PEMRA.

The parliamentary leader Khurram Sher Zaman said that the government wanted to increase unemployment in the country by suppressing the voice of the media.

MQM-P's Mangla Sharma and Razzaq Rahimon of GDA also spoke at length during the prebudget discussion. Later, the speaker adjourned the session till March 14.