Census to be held this year, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada Tuesday informed the Senate that national census would be held this year and that it was delayed due to army engagement in operation Zarb-e-Azb.

Responding to a question during question-hour, the minister said the Council of Common Interests in its last meeting held on March 18 had decided that the census would be held in March 2016 as per proposal of the Statistics Division.

However, the census was put off for time being due to the army engagement in the operation. The census would be conducted under the supervision of armed forces, he added. He said the funds would be shared from the divisible pool by all provinces jointly.

The minister said Pakistan Cricket Board is represented by 16 regions all over the country and Balochistan province has two regions including Quetta and Dera Murad Jamali.To another question, Pirzada said the PCB has zero tolerance policy towards corruption in cricket.The PCB has its integral anti-corruption and security unit working in coordination with International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption unit to curb spot fixing.