Government to hold population census in March, Senate informed

ZULFIQAR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD: The government informed the Senate on Monday that it intends to conduct census in March 2017, as its earlier plan to hold the population census in November-December 2016 could not be materialised due to unavailability of military personnel. Responding to a motion by Senator Mohsin Aziz of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to discuss the delay in conducting census, Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid said that the census could not take place in November-December as the military is still busy at the eastern border.

"It had been decided in the meeting of Council of Common Interest (CCI) that census will be conducted in November-December subject to availability of armed forces' personnel, but the military is still unavailable as it is busy in internal security issues as well as at eastern border," he added.

He said that the summary for the CCI meeting has already been prepared which will meet soon and take up the issue again, and now the target to hold population census is in March 2017. This prompted Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani to observe that given the situation with India at the eastern border, there is a possibility that personnel of armed forces might not be available by March, adding the government should find some solution so that the census could be conducted without the support of military.

However, the minister said that the issue has been discussed at length with the defence secretary and it in the upcoming CCI meeting, the government, which according to him is making serious efforts to hold the census, will try to find a solution to the problem.

The opposition lawmakers said that the government is intentionally delaying the census as it does not want judicious distribution of resources among smaller provinces, especially NFC Award, besides other issue like delimitation, as these things do not benefit Punjab.

"If the government undertakes census, it will have to increase the number of National Assembly seats of the smaller provinces, and their share will also have to be increased in NFC Award, that's not benefiting big brother Punjab, so they are delaying it wilfully," said Mohsin Aziz of PTI.

But the law minister categorically rejected the allegations and said that the government had made budgetary allocation for this purpose, and it will definitely conduct the census during its tenure. He also ridiculed the PPP lawmakers for blaming the ruling government of wilful delay in holding census, and said why they [PPP] failed to proceed with the census during their five years term from 2008 to 2013 if they thought it was that important.

BILLS The Senate referred 'The Right to Information Bill, 2016' moved by Senators Farhatullah Babar, Kamil Ali Agha, Rubina Irfan, Karim Khwaja, and Daud Khan Achakzai to the select committee of the Senate for further deliberation after State Minister for Information Mariyum Aurangzeb opposed the bill, saying the bill had already been approved by the Cabinet which would be introduced in the next National Assembly session.

"The bill is almost ready as there were directives of the Prime Minister in this regard. An extensive parliamentary, ministerial and legal review has been completed. The bill is also reviewed by CCLC and approved by the Cabinet and it will be laid in the National Assembly during the next session," she added. She said the draft of the bill has been prepared with the spirit to bring improvement in access to information, adding the government has been working on the bill for the last 11 months and it has now been finalised in consultation with all stakeholders.

She said that the Prime Minister had formed a five-member committee, consisting of parliamentarians, to review the proposed bill, adding it was thoroughly reviewed, compared with same law of other countries and provinces, and then sent to the Ministry for Law and Justice. The minister said the draft of the bill has been prepared on the basis of the proposals given by the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. "The recommendations given by Senate would also be incorporated in the bill to make it flawless," she added.

The Chairman Senate referred the bill to the select committee of the Senate for further deliberation as Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting headed by Shahi Syed had already passed it. Farhatullah Babar was of the view that access to information had become fundamental right of the citizens under Article 19A. All the four provinces have already implemented right to information bills, he added. He said the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting had already endorsed the bill.

'The Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University Islamabad (Amendment) Bill, 2016' was moved by Sardar Azam Khan Musakhel, while 'The Juvenile Justice System (Amendment) Bill, 2016' and 'The Islamabad Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls Bill, 2016,' were moved by Azam Khan Swati. These bills were referred to concerned committees.

'The National Commission for International Law and Commitments Bill, 2016' by Dr Karim Ahmed Khawaja, 'The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016' by Babar Awan, and 'The Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (Amendment) Bill, 2016' by Nuzhat Sadiq, were also introduced in the Senate and referred to concerned committees for further deliberation.

RESOLUTIONS The House also passed a resolution, recommending the government to give adequate representation to women in Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) by amending the rules, if needed. The resolution was moved by Senator Seher Kamran of PPP. Another resolution moved by Senator Samina Abid of PTI, seeking recommendation to include climate change in curriculum for class one to 10 in all government educational institutions in the federal capital, was also passed by the House.

A resolution by Senator Azam Khan Swati of PTI was also passed by the House. It recommended the government to bring changes in national accountability laws to discover moveable and immovable benami properties/companies and announce a handsome reward or percentage of amount for those who identify and inform NAB about the details of such properties/companies, keeping the name of the informer confidential.

Another resolution moved by Senators Sardar Azam Khan, Usman Khan Kakar and Gul Basra was also passed by the House. It recommended writing off agriculture loans presently outstanding against the farmers in Balochistan in view of deteriorating condition of agriculture sector due to law and order situation, low water level and excessive electricity load shedding.