CCI decision on census today

ISLAMABAD: The confusion over holding of sixth population and housing census, already behind schedule by eight years, will go on Monday when the Council of Common Interests (CCI) takes a final decision whether to organize it in the given month, March, or delay it.

It is most likely to be deferred for different reasons, the main being the non-availability of nearly 300,000 army personnel for security and transparency of the exercise, a senior official told The News.

He said that the CCI will take the decision after consulting the chief ministers. He said that the army’s help has been sought to make the census credible and acceptable to all and sundry. The official said that in the presence of the military personnel, the chances of fake entries by political vested interests about the number of persons to enhance their provincial share in resources, jobs, National Assembly seats etc. will be largely minimized. However, the government has failed to come up with a plausible alternative plan for conducting the census after the military gave its final word that it cannot spare the troops.

Meanwhile, just three days before the CCI meeting, the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governments reached an agreement on settlement of net hydropower profit, gas allocations, power generation and development of an irrigation project. As per the accord, the federal government will pay Rs70 billion net hydropower profit to KP in four years, pick up major cost of Chashma Right Bank Uplift Canal project and empower the provincial government to set up a 500MW power project based on locally produced natural gas.

While the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have called for arranging the census in the appointed month, Balochistan nationalists have stressed that the exercise should be cancelled till Afghan refugees are repatriated because they will disturb the demographic picture of the province.

There have been demands from the chief ministers of Sindh and KP to summon the CCI to take up various issues including the China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC). However, this controversy over the historic package has already been settled to the satisfaction of the KP chief minister and other objectors.

Some time back, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani drew the attention of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the mandatory constitutional obligation that prescribes convening of the CCI at least once in three months.

The CCI has not met for nearly a year with its last session having been held in March, 2015. It is unexplained as to why the government has taken such a long time to call its meeting. However, if it shied away from summoning it, no provincial government approached the prime minister with the request to hold its meeting to take up “an urgent matter”.

In his strongly worded ruling, Rabbani said that not summoning the CCI once in three months is a constitutional violation having consequences with a chaotic effect, bringing the entire state machinery pertaining to or dealing with items of the federal legislative list, Part-II, to a grinding halt. He held the view that all matters relating to the formation and regulation of policies and supervision and control over institutions covered in Part-II would be of no legal effect if they were not approved by the CCI.

Since the present government came in place in June 2013, CCI sessions were held on July 23 and July 31 2013, and February 10 and May 29 2014 and March 15, 2015. Among others, the last meeting had taken the exceptional decision of holding census that had been deferred by successive governments. As per article 154, the CCI shall formulate and regulate policies in relation to matters in Part II and exercise supervision and control over related institutions.