Sherpao calls for transparency in fresh census

PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Tuesday said the fresh census should be carried out in a transparent and credible manner as the headcount played a key role in the development of a country.

In a statement, he said the census played a key role in the development of a country as it helped provide accurate data to the planners. He added that the census should be completed by June 2022 instead of 2023 as he believed it was a long period. Aftab Sherpao said the government should reduce the time period specified for the completion of the headcount. He said the country’s population increased every year so the government should enhance the number of national and provincial assemblies’ seats to give equal representation to all areas.

“Delimitation is a constitutional requirement after the census to hold an election,” he explained and recalled that after the last census the government had increased the number of people required for demarking a constituency instead of creating new ones. The QWP leader advised the authorities to avoid making the mistakes committed in the past while conducting the census particularly in the merged tribal districts.

Aftab Sherpao maintained that modern methods should be adopted to ensure the accuracy of the data as planning would be carried out as per the statistics collected in the census. Underlying the importance of census, he maintained that the headcount helped the government frame policies and make funds allocations. “The economic growth and service delivery cannot be ensured without having accurate census figures,” he added.