Speakers at a conference on Thursday urged the government to hold upcoming census in a fair and transparent manner, so that it would help mitigate the sufferings of poor masses. Presiding over All-Parties Conference, organised by Pasban-e-Pakistan on the topic of 'Prerequisites for a transparent census' here at Karachi Press Club (KPC), former Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed said, "A transparent census is necessary for the better future of the nation".
He said the issue of increasing census blocks should further be clarified. He said the claim of the Sindh government that 3 million rural people do not have the CNIC is not true. Census and elections are two different things. As per the rules of the United Nations to hold the census is the responsibility of all countries. He said the census helps in a proper planning about the distribution of resources to cater the needs of the population and it also helps in determining the seats in the National Assembly (NA).
In Sindh province, he said there is 60:40 ratio in the government jobs for rural and urban citizens and this quota system has already harmed the country to a great extent. Karachi is the financial capital of the country and a mini-Pakistan and people have settled here from different parts of the country which all should be counted in the census.
Wajihuddin said it is expected that in this census the urban population in Sindh would be more than the rural population of the province; this is why the rulers of the Sindh, who belong to the rural areas, are not happy with the census. He said the Afghanis living in Pakistan should also be counted, but they would not be included in the Pakistani population.
He said as the trend of population growth in Punjab is slow its elite class also fear losing their grip on power as the seats of Punjab in the National Assembly may decrease in the result of the coming census. This is why the elite class in whole Pakistan is not happy with the census. He said the number of population blocks in the urban areas is decreased but it is increased in the rural areas which may result in serious manipulation of the census figures.
He said that the census authority should issue a public statement and clarify about the population blocks. Pasban-e-Pakistan President Altaf Shakoor said that the establishment of Pakistan should ensure the holding of the census in most transparent manner; otherwise, it would be not augur well for this nation and country.
He said, "We should learn a lesson from the Fall of Dhaka. He said the terrorism is directly related to the deprivations of people, injustice and inequality. He said the feeling of deprivation turns the dejected people into suicide bombers".
He asked the politicians and ruling elite to give the poor people their due rights. He said that the result of the census would be a public document so if anyone has objection on any entry he or she could challenge it. He said all the basic information about the census should be shared with public to make the process fully transparent.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Karachi acting president ex-Senator Humayun Khan Mandokhel said all people living in Pakistan, irrespective of they are Pakistanis or non-Pakistanis should be counted in the census. The census should be held in whole Sindh province simultaneously and its results should be computerized. Families living in single multi-storied building should be considered as separate families. The Pakistanis who do not have valid CNICs but whose close relatives like father, brother and son have valid CNICs, B-Forms or driving licences should be considered as Pakistanis.
Lawyer Mehfooz-un-Nabi said the census would be incomplete without the '2-A form' as the census data depends basically on this form. He said after the exercise of census, the sampling of 2-A form would be futile.
Trade leader Atiq Mir demanded to conduct the census in a fully transparent manner. He said every citizen living in Pakistan should be counted in the census. He asked to expel all terrorists living in Pakistan. Pak Muslim Alliance president SM Farooq said there are nine mother tongues recognised in the census form; however, the Bengali language should also be included to it. He asked if the Nadra is under the PPP government as it summons the Nadra mobile vans to their constituencies, while common people of Karachi are facing problems in getting their CNICs.