Govt constitutes Cabinet Committee on Census

ISLAMABAD: The government has constituted the Cabinet Committee on Census under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Ali Zaidi and given it the mandate to come up with a solution in consultation with all parties concerned on the findings of the last population census in 60 days, The News has learnt.

However, this high-powered committee did not have representation from Punjab and armed forces into its fold. The last Population Census held in 2017 under the supervision and foolproof security provided by the armed forces.

Based on provisional results of the last population census, delimitation was done as an outcome of the provisional results of population census and the last general elections were held in 2018. However, those who knew about all controversies related to population census were amazed why major stakeholders, including Punjab, were not made part of this whole process.

One federal minister confirmed to The News on Thursday that the federal cabinet meeting held under Prime Minister Imran Khan recently approved the constitution of Cabinet Committee on Census under the chairmanship of Federal Minister Ali Zaidi and it would comprise Minister for Law Farogh Naseem, Minister for Defence Production Zubaida Jalal, Minister for Religious Affairs Noor Ul Haq Qadri, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza and come up with findings in 60-day period.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), in one of its presentations informed the government, that there were 14,000 blocks in Karachi for conducting population census out of which the MQM raised objections on 11 blocks where the population was numbered at zero. According to the findings of the PBS, three blocks were located in the sea area, six blocks were located where only commercial activities were done and no residential population resided and there were two blocks where population was thin, so it was attached with adjacent blocks.

In the aftermath of the population census results, the previous government had decided to select 3 to 5 percent area in all the four provinces and FATA areas to conduct re-validation exercise but this process remained an unfinished agenda. Then parliamentary committee took up this issue but all efforts remained futile and no consensus could be achieved.

The former chief statistician of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics who was later appointed as a consultant on Census, Asif Bajwa, had once given an extensive briefing to the MQM delegation who had visited the PBS headquarters in Islamabad and made all-out efforts to address all their objections. The MQM had objected that how the population of Lahore had increased while the population of Karachi had not increased proportionally in the last two census periods from 1998 to 2017. However, the then PBS high-ups had briefed the MQM delegation that the jurisdiction of Karachi was not changed as some parts of Karachi were still considered rural areas, including Port Qasim and Bahria Town but in Lahore they expanded the jurisdiction of Lahore through issuance of notification, so it was an administrative issue and that was why Karachi’s jurisdiction was not expanded by its administration. The PBS had also shown that with old jurisdiction it proved that the population growth in both Karachi and Lahore showed almost the same results. With the results of last population census, Punjab’s seats in the National Assembly had reduced but no one had raised objections over it. The sources said that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) had not yet granted approval for finalising the results of the population census 2017.

This scribe contacted Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar for seeking official comments on Thursday, who said that the Cabinet Committee on Census would finalise its recommendations within 60 days. He said that this committee comprised members belonging to those areas where there were objections over the results of the last census. However, when the finding would come, then there would be sufficient representation from Punjab within the fold of the cabinet, so there was nothing to worry about it.