PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party Chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has welcomed the Supreme Court decision on holding national census in the country, and asked the federal government to make proper and timely arrangements to carry out the crucial exercise to strengthen democracy and the federation.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, the QWP chief expressed the hope that the apex court decision would have far reaching impact on the country, allowing equitable distribution of resources among the federating units.

Mr Sherpao said the last census was held in 1998 after which the government functioned on mere estimates, claiming that it was QWP which had raised the issue at a multi-party moot it convened where a resolution was passed calling for conducting the census.

He said the party had presented a bill seeking amendment to the relevant law to bind the government to hold census every after 10 years. The bill has been passed by the standing committee on finance and will soon be presented for debate in the parliament, he added.

The QWP chief said census could play a foundational role in democracy as without it the number of seats in the parliament could not be decided. The lack of an accurate database, in turn, causes lopsided development as population figures are a prerequisite for egalitarian power-sharing, equitable distribution of resources among the federating units and urban planning.

In the absence of accurate statistics, a population census can be manipulated to maintain the demographic hegemony of one region over the others, or to achieve a larger chunk from an ever-shrinking pie of resources, he added

“For the last 18 years the state system is deprived of the exact number of its citizens. Without census data, socioeconomic planning is a mere guesswork,” he said, adding after the implementation of the Supreme Court decision, ‘we will be able to have exact information about the members of our people’. Without this detail it is impossible to govern people, he maintained

The QWP chairman said equal distribution of resources would help reduce consternation and anxiety among people of the smaller federating units.

Moreover, the governments’ planning for development will become effective because actual demographic figures of the nation will be available, he said.

Mr Sherpao criticised the federal government for using delaying tactics on the matter.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2016