ISLAMABAD: In a response to Supreme Court on Population census case, the Government of Pakistan has stated that the census will be conducted after March 2017 and the reason for delay is the Operation Zarb-e-Azb due to which civilians have relocated and consequently led to rise in IDP’s issue.
In the meantime, the government has directed the respective mechanism and machinery to lay ground work for the Population census. Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Zahid Hamid earlier stated that the 6th national population census could be conducted in November this year or March 2017 subject to the availability of troops of armed forces.
Responding to a Calling Attention Notice, moved by Senator Lt Gen (Retd) Abdul Qayyum, he admitted the dire need of holding population census in the country adding that last population census was conducted by the government of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) in 1998.
He further said that Rs 2 billion were released for purchasing stationary and other items. The CCI had rescheduled the census by consensus due to commitments of the security forces and Operation Zarb-e-Azb. He added that 225,000 troops were required for completing the gigantic task. Earlier, the mover of the Calling Attention Notice, Lt Gen (Retd) Abdul Qayyum said as per requirements of United Nations – population census should be held after every 10 years.
National census is necessary for distribution of resources under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award and an allocation of seats in the federal and provincial legislatures. The Election Commission of Pakistan also wants to delimit constituencies for federal and provincial assemblies before the 2018 general elections.
