The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the federation to explain reasons by March 16 behind the exclusion of a column relating to disabled persons from the census form. Appearing before a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, the petitioner' counsel said that earlier Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) had included the column about information of disabled persons in the ongoing population census performa.
He apprised the court that in the final stage of the census form, the column about disabled people has been deleted, adding that it is the right to information of the disabled persons to include their details in the census form. However, turning down the plea of the petitioner to halt the census, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that stopping the process of the census at this stage will not be possible; otherwise, it would have long-term adverse a impact. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar questioned the reasons behind to removal of the column from census form.
It is important to mention that in pursuance of the apex court's directives, national population census is commencing from today (March 15) after 19 years. Advocate Raheel Kamran Sheikh had filed a petition on behalf of six persons with disabilities under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. The federal and provincial governments and the national and provincial councils for rehabilitation of disabled persons are among the respondents in the case.
The petitioners urged the apex court to issue directives to all the concerned departments to ensure collection of necessary data on the incidence of disability, besides ensuring proper identification of persons with disabilities, documenting impairments and categorising types, causes, duration and severity of the disabilities. The petition stated that during the course of consultations with Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the petitioners were assured that the appropriate forms would contain questions in this regard.
"This was reflected in an earlier copy of the questionnaire generated by PBS and shared with the petitioners, however, the most recent version of the form excluded all such questions for collecting information about persons with disabilities," reads the petition. "It only deals with queries pertaining to demographic details of households."
The petitioners contended that such omissions in 'Form 2' meant that the census would actually be limited to a 'headcount' exercise and crucial information for addressing various social challenges - such as assisting persons with disabilities - would once again not be collected and, therefore, remain unavailable.
The petitioners apprised the Supreme Court that the paucity of reliable data in this regard will largely obstruct effective enforcement of laws or policies for the assistance of persons with disabilities. According to them, if lawmakers and administrative functionaries continue to work with outdated data, they would continue to remain unaware of the actual number of people who need specific intervention, treatment, training and rehabilitation. Later, issuing directives to Deputy Attorney General for Pakistan Sajid Ilyas Bhatti to submit a reply pertaining to reasons behind exclusion of the said column, the bench adjourned the hearing of the matter till March 16.