Govt girds up loins to conduct long overdue population census

• PM directs Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry to put census on top of Council of Common interests (CCI) next meeting’s agenda
• Federal govt helping Balochistan govt in making conducive environment for census in province’s turmoil-hit areas

With a decisive action being launched to flush out terrorists and separatists from across country, the government has also geared up its preparations to carry out the long overdue population census which would be conducted after a gap of 16 years, Pakistan Today has learnt reliably.

The population census would greatly help in making the general elections transparent, identify the Afghan, Uzbek and other migrants secretly living in Pakistan under fake identities, beside helping in rephrasing the government’s policies in light of the population in each province. Moreover, following the census, different segments of the society would be able to attract attention of the policymakers per their numbers.

The population census was due in 2007 but the then Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) government could not conduct it before the general elections.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had urged the government to carry out the census before general elections in year 2007 and 2013 to remove any possibilities of election rigging but the census could not be conducted.

However, the government would also have to allocate financial resources for the census despite the fact that the government already has to bear army’s expense for the ongoing nationwide operation against miscreants under Zarb-e-Azb.

THE BALOCHISTAN FACTOR:

Talking to Pakistan Today, a well-placed source said that the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination had been directed to put the census on top of the agenda of the next meeting of the Council of Common interests (CCI).

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants this task to be completed on priority. The next CCI meeting would discuss census as the number one agenda item,” the source said, adding that the census had not be carried out because of the “inability of the Balochistan government”, adding that the law and order situation in 10 districts of Balochistan was “volatile”.

Talking to Pakistan Today, an official in Balochistan said that the Baloch population was facing a strong challenge from Pashtuns even inside their own province, where the people from both the ethnicities were living since ages but the majority has always been enjoyed by Baloch. However, the armed struggle by Baloch militants against the state of Pakistan and tribal feuds within the Baloch population have badly damaged the equation, he said.

“The infighting between two major Bugti tribes in and around Sibbi, the decades-old Bugti-Marri feuds and Rind-Raisani conflicts resulted into killings and migrations of Baloch youth. Then the nationalists waged a new war against the state by groups like BLA, BLF, BRA and other smaller outfits led the youth to move to hills and wage a fight against the security forces,” the source said.

The source said that the federal government gives share to provincial government under the NFC award on the basis of headcount which later is distributed on the same headcount basis among districts of respective province.

“Now Pashtuns are threatening the Baloch populace. They have already captured business activity, they are ahead in education, sports and all other fields of life. Now if they also surpass Baloch in headcount, it would push Baloch population to further isolation,” the source added.

The source said that Baloch-dominated areas of Balochistan including Mastung, Sibbi, Makran and Gwadar were hit by conflict and violence, adding that miscreants had announced to resist census in those areas.

“The Baloch nationalists are against a census. Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik would have to consider all these realities,” said the source.

“Despite repeated attempts by the successive governments of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-Nawaz, the census could not be carried out as Baloch nationalists think that the Baloch population would be outnumbered by Pashtuns. Because of the same fear, Malik has also resisted the census since taking over the reigns as the provincial chief executive,” the source said.

When contacted, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Riaz Pirzada confirmed that the PM had directed him to put a population census as number-one agenda item for the upcoming CCI meeting.

“Like other achievements, the population census would also go to the credit of PM Sharif who has decided to conduct the census. It was also the PML-N government which conducted the last census in 1998,” he said.

“The federal government has been helping the Balochistan government in bringing normalcy to the province’s turmoil-stricken areas. The recent legislation will also help the security forces to track down criminal and terror elements. So we hope that Malik will agree to the long-awaited agenda of population census,” the minister said.

Asked whether the population census could threaten the Baloch-Pashtun equation in Balochistan, Pirzada said that there has been massive internal population dislocation which has impacted the population equations across the country, adding that operation against terrorists has already been launched and normalcy would soon return to the conflict-hit areas of Balochistan.

“It is not limited to Balochistan only. People have been badly hit by terrorism in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Punjab and Sindh have also seen effects of this demographic change.”

WAITING TO COUNT SINCE 2011:

Talking to Pakistan Today, an official in the population census organisation said that 98 per cent work for carrying out census had been completed by the body in year 2011 and it was now up to the government to take a decision.

“The census organisation had completed 98 percent of its task in year 2011 and tentative dates for census had been fixed for March 2012 as elections were to be conducted in March 2013,” said the official.

For the population census, the government has to take human resources of the country and their living conditions at one point of time, he said.

“The census provides basic data on demographic, social and economic variables about each person and each housing unit. It serves as benchmark for all socio-economic development plans, administrative activities, demographic research and projection of population to meet future needs,” the official said.

CENSUS METHODOLOGY:

The official said that under enumeration method, canvasser method is to be used in which information is collected and recorded by the enumerator by door-to-door visit. Moreover, population will also be counted at usual place of residence (de-jure method) for comparison with the past. Population by district of birth will also be counted and published.

PARAMETERS TO BE COVERED IN CENSUS:

The official said that census is usually held in two phases – House Listing and Population and Housing Census. House Listing is usually carried out a few months before the main census, he said.

Demographic and social characteristics have to be taken care of for census under which age, sex, relationship to the head, marital status, religion, mother tongue and nationality have to be registered, he said.

“Moreover, educational characteristics of people of five years and above have to be registered while literacy status, school attendance, level of education completed, and field of education have to be taken care of.”

“Furthermore, geographical and migration characteristics have to be registered. Usual residence, district of birth, duration of continuous residence in district, district of previous residence and reason of migration also has to be registered.”

“Economic characteristics of population of ten years and above would also be registered while usual activity, part-time activity, occupation, industry employment status, reason of unemployment also has to be enrolled.”

Moreover, fertility, mortality rate of females from 15-49 years also has to registered, said the official, adding that the number of children ever born by sex, the number of children still living by sex, the number of children born during last 12 months by sex, and the number of children still living by sex would also be registered.

“Nature and type of disability if any and holding of CNIC by people above the age of 18 years plus would also be registered.”

HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS:

Information about living quarters, number of rooms, sex of the owner, tenure status, period since constructed and construction material used in outer walls and roofs would also be registered during the census, said the official.

“The data on source of drinking water, source of lighting and cooking fuel used also would be taken. The availability of kitchen, bathroom, latrine and type of latrine and media of information such as television, radio, newspaper, telephone and mobile would also be registered,” said the official.

SECURITY:

For complete coverage and effective field supervision, the country has been delimited on a four-tier system. The census would cover all districts, tehsils/towns and cantonments, said the official.

The army and law enforcing agencies would provide security cover to the field staff as well as retrieval of filled-in documents so that the enumerators can work within time without any fear or influence.