- Rs6bn to be allocated to army out of Rs18.5bn; Army to ensure transparency, maintenance of order
The civil and military officials on Sunday announced to jointly conduct the country’s sixth population census starting from March 15 which would be completed by May 25 in two phases.
The announcement was made here at a joint press conference addressed by State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Maryam Aurangzeb, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Asif Ghafoor and Chief Census Commissioner Asif Bajwa.
The fifth population census was conducted in 1998 and the sixth census is being held after 19 years. “The first phase would start from March 15 and would conclude by April 15, followed by a 10-day break to facilitate the movement of logistics for the second phase which will start from April 25 to May 25,” Maryam said.
She said that Rs18.5 billion had been released for the census out of which six billion rupees would be allocated to the army. “Rs 6.5 billion have been allocated for transportation while another six billion rupees have been allotted to the civilian budget,” she said, adding that total civilian staff taking part in the census equals 118,918 persons and are all government servants serving in various departments.
The state minister said that those individuals who would found providing misleading and incorrect data to the census officials would have to pay Rs 50,000 fine and six months imprisonment. She said that dual nationals who are present in Pakistan at the time of the census will be included in the census. “Form 2-A of the census will count transgender individuals for the first time,” she told a questioner.
She said that the government was also set to undertake a mass communication and awareness campaign on a national level and the citizens who wish to report any discrepancies are encouraged to call a helpline 0800-57574. She said there was complete consensus among members of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for holding census and all the arrangements had been made in an elaborate manner to make the process fair and transparent.
She said the percentage ratio of urban and rural areas would be issued soon after the census. Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said it was decided that transparency of census would be ensured with assistance of the army and over 0.2 million soldiers would be provided for making the census transparent.
He warned against negative propaganda against census process, saying those feeding wrong date would be dealt strictly. He made it clear that the army was all ready to perform its job. “One soldier would accompany one enumerator in each housing block. Around 8,00 master trainers have been trained to render training to enumerators,” he added.
He said that the Pakistan Army would provide full security to the census process and it would also ensure law and order situation in the area. “Every single citizen is responsible for security and every citizen is a soldier in Radd-ul-Fassad operation,” he said. He said that the census would be conducted with the assistance of over 200,000 troops in approximately 168,000 blocks.
“There are approximately 168,000 blocks, and there will be a soldier accompanying every civilian enumerator on that level,” he said. “The soldiers would accompany their civilian peers and once the data is provided, the soldier ─ who will have a link to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) ─ will be able to get verification of the data immediately,” he added.
He said that the army has created a support plan for the census according to which the military has three tasks. “Army would ensure that the census is smooth, transparent and that security and law and order are maintained,” he added. The army will make security arrangements for the retrieval of filled forms, he added.
“With help from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, master trainers in various cities have trained more trainers under them at the division level, so “each soldier is well-trained to undertake this task,” Ghafoor said. He said the provincial results of the census will be published after May 25.
Regular reports will be issued at the provincial, district and national levels, the information minister said at the briefing, with a summary of demographics as well as a visual representation published before the final results are released. “Take the soldier who comes to your door for the census as a thank you from the Army for your devotion, and please cooperate with him,” he concluded.
