Head count: IHC accepts petition seeking national census

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has accepted a petition seeking court directions to conduct a national census.

Petitioner Iftikhar Hussain, a resident of Islamabad, has requested the court to direct the government to conduct the national census, which is obligatory every ten years under the law. The last census was held in 1998.

The petitioner, while citing the finance secretary, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics chief statistics officer, statistics division secretary, chief election commissioner, and Council of Common Interest chairman as respondents, has pleaded the court to pass an order in this regard. IHC judge Athar Minallah will take up the case on Monday.

“Not holding a national census violates articles 8 and 9 of the constitution and the Population Census Ordinance,” said the petition, adding that it was a decennial activity that provided a comprehensive picture of social and living conditions of people in the country.

“The last time, [a census] was conducted with the support of the armed forces and the results were broadly accepted and appreciated by all national and international experts,” said the petition.

“Countries around the world manage the distribution of resources among their citizens on the basis of population census,” said the petition.

“Without holding a census, new delimitations and distribution of seats in national and provincial assemblies and new elections would not be possible,” it said.

The petition said that if the government conducts a census, fresh population data would be available for the ECP to carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies before the next general and local bodies elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2015.