Transparency in 7th population census urged

Islamabad : Speakers urged the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to revise the questionnaire of upcoming census to count and present separately gypsies and nomads as well as minor minorities including; Baha’i, Kalash, Jews, Buddhist, etc. rather than presenting them accumulatively as ‘Others’ in the results to manifest the religious and ethnic diversity of Pakistan, and to facilitate policy planning.

The speakers Peter Jacob, Mukhtar Ahmed Ali, Albert David, and Jennifer Jag Jivan were addressing a media conference organised by Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).

They expressed their apprehensions regarding the lack of preparedness for the next population census. They said that to involve key stakeholders including; civil society, international observers, and media in the census monitoring committee, and brief them on important features of data collection and compilation of census in order to build transparency and public trust. PBS should also make efforts for mandatory and structural inclusion of minorities in its system.

A white paper ‘Confusing Demographics of Minorities’ based on the data analysis of Censuses in 1981, 1998 and 2017 was introduced which found that he demographic picture of religious minorities showed inconsistent and illogical growth, even a decline (0.21 per cent) that leaves doubts about the credibility of census data.

The paper highlights the fact that the data from the last three censuses show that the population of religious minorities was 3.32 per cent of the total population in 1981, which increased to 3.73 per cent in 1998, and decreased to 3.52 per cent in 2017. The total population of religious minorities in 2017 was counted at 7.32 million which included Christians (2.64 million), Hindus (3.6 million), Ahmadis (0.19 million), Scheduled Castes (0.85 million), and people from “Other” religions (0.04 million).

It further mentioned that the 2017 census data shows the astonishing trends of population growth of religious minorities in Pakistan. The Christians were shown to have grown by 25.71 per cent (0.55 million), while Hindus grew by 70.62 per cent (1.48 million), and the population of people categorised as ‘Scheduled Castes’ increased exponentially by 157.58 per cent (0.52 million) between 1998 and 2017.

In contrast, the population of Ahmadis drastically declined by 35.71 per cent (0.09 million), and people falling into the category of ‘Other Religions’ declined by 60 per cent (0.06 million). It further stated that the segregated data about the social and economic development of religious minorities is missing in the census data and the NADRA’s data does not help verify the Census data due to various inconsistencies, for instance, categories of minorities used.

Although the population of scheduled caste was shown as 0.33 million and 0.85 million respectively for censuses in 1998 and 2017, however, not a single citizen had identified him/herself as scheduled caste in the registration with NADRA.

Speaking on the occasion, Peter Jacob, the executive director CSJ, emphasised that the mistrust created in the population census of 2017 could only be treated by participatory accountability, and transparent conduct of the population census. He urged the government to involve non-government stakeholders to build trust and to avoid controversies census process in 2022.

Albert David, a member of the National Commission for Minorities, said that the vocabulary used by the PBS and the NADRA must show coherence and consistency (Mukhanas vs Khawaja Sara). He observed that there is a general concern among Christians that their numbers have hugely been underreported, which has an impact on their socio-economic and political rights.

The results of the 6th population Census became controversial, therefore, the culture of secrecy observed in data processing must end. The census results at all levels (union council, tehsil, and district) should be shared in order to build confidence among the masses.