Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) is preparing a proposal to estimate the financial cost of post enumeration survey of one percent of the total blocks of census to address reservations of political parties on sixth population census.
Talking to Business Recorder, Chief Census Commissioner of PBS Asif Bajwa said that the accurate quantum of the amount would be known after taking bids from a third party charged with carrying out the exercise.
"The process will definitely entail some financial cost because it will be carried out by an independent third party for the satisfaction of the political parties," he said.
The Council of Common Interests (CCI) has decided to hold post enumeration across the country at once to remove doubts of political parties.
Bajwa also presided over a meeting regarding the provision of census data to the federal government, adding that as the census was done across the country, the verification of one percent of blocks will also be selected throughout the country.
Bajwa said that PBS will prepare the proposal of required financing for the post enumeration survey or verification of data after concurrence with the third party. To a question, he said that final results of the census will be released by the end of April 2018 and post enumeration survey will be completed before it.
Qaiser Bengali, a known economist, said that it was the requirement of justice to hold verification of one percent of the census blocks across the country and termed the decision as 'good'. Bengali argued that a massive inconsistency in data during the process of verification will make the entire census controversial while a small discrepancy will be adjustable.
Pakistan People's Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had refused to accept the census results, accusing the federal government of showing less population of Karachi and rural Sindh then was credible. The MQM argued that Karachi city population was downgraded by 8-10 million people while Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) of Balochistan contended that Pashtun population was less than credible in Balochistan and FATA.
Senator Usman Khan Kakar of PMAP said that Pashtun population in Balochistan was shown less than is the case and the people of tribal areas displaced across the country due to army operation against extremists and terrorists were not counted in the census.
Pakistan People's Party had refused to support the government's move to amend the constitution allowing reallocation and delimitation of constituencies on provisional results of the census to ensure the holding of the next general elections on time. The PPP had urged the government to convene the CCI meeting and take the provincial chief ministers on board as well as take note of their reservations on census and deal with them appropriately.
MQM-P MNA Sajid Ahmed told Business Recorder that there are a total of 18 towns in Karachi and if the post enumeration exercise is carried out in one of those blocks to ascertain the facts, then his party would support the process.
He, however, said that his party has not yet decided if it would support the delimitation bill in the National Assembly and Senate.
"We will make sure that post enumeration exercise as agreed in the CCI meeting will take place at least in one town of Karachi before deciding to support or oppose the delimitation bill," he said.
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