Afghan refugees, aliens causing problems for census

ISLAMABAD: Balochistan has refused to appoint Provincial Census Commissioner till resolution of thorny issue of counting Afghan nationals into upcoming Population Census scheduled to be held by March/April 2016, The News has learnt.

Balochistan government did not want to count Afghan nationals into upcoming population census, claiming that it will further aggravate and disturb ratio of Baloch and Pashtun populations residing in six major districts of the province.

Earlier, the KP’s provincial assembly has jointly passed a resolution number 723 whereby all members irrespective of political divide of treasury and opposition benches asked the federal government to give representation to all provinces into Governing Council and appointment of functional members into restructured Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

They also demanded appointment of a serving officer as Chief Census Officer so that in case of negligence in population census exercise one can be held accountable and this would ensure holding of upcoming census in a transparent manner.

The sources also pointed out that the manual data collection from 165,000 blocks all over the country seems problematic so why the government does not allow usage of latest computer device such as tablets to all enumerators for filling the data with complete accuracy and authenticity.

Citing example, the sources said that when population census was held in 1998, the data of 300 blocks from Quetta was stolen from the Commissioner’s office that had created difficulties for enumerators so if usage of tablets were allowed then accurate data could be secured.

There was also need to analyse faults committed in the exercise of house listing done in 2011 which indicated falling population ratio in Punjab and rising population in Karachi whereby over 100 people were shown residing in single flat.

On issue of counting aliens, the Chief Census Officer Asif Bajwa and his team argued during the apex committee meeting chaired by Secretary Interior held couple of weeks back that the enumerators of census would not be able to differentiate between Afghan and local nationals as they would have to rely upon on given reply of respondents and possession of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs).

When contacted to Chief Census Officer, Asif Bajwa on Tuesday, he said that Balochistan’s government was busy in nominating suitable officer for assigning him as provincial census commissioner.

When asked him about certain concerns of the provincial government for counting aliens, he said that different proposals were under consideration to address this issue and all concerns of all provinces would be addressed at appropriate forum.

However, the sources said that the apex committee discussed possibility for placing a separate form provided by the provincial government to identify aliens through upcoming census.

Punjab’s representative told the apex committee that the provincial government is conducting survey of Afghan nationals in selected identified pockets including Chakwal, Rawalpindi and some other districts so other provinces should also replicate this exercise.

Except Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), three provinces including Punjab,Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have nominated their respective census commissioner and subsequently Establishment Division has notified their appointments.

The government has appointed provincial census commissioner including Punjab’s census commissioner Arif Anwar Baloch, Sindh’s Abdul Aleem Memoon, KP’s Mumtaz Ali Khan and AJK’s Raja Mohammad Akram (who has now gone for a training course).

When a top official of Balochistan government was contacted, he told this correspondent that the provincial government possessed certain reservations during the apex committee meeting including counting of aliens into upcoming census exercise.

During the meeting, the data of non- Pakistanis was demanded from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), non CNIC holders and data of people speaking different languages. The PBS high-ups replied that under secrecy obligations, they were not authorised to share individuals’ data with anyone however, aggregate data of blocks could be shared to identify locality where aliens were residing.