ISLAMABAD: A former Supreme Court justice has written to key government functionaries, threatening to move the country’s top court if the forthcoming census is not held in line with the Constitution.

Retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, who has also served as chief justice of the Sindh High Court, maintains that the conduct of the population census is the exclusive domain of the federal government.

In his letter, he has warned against attempts — especially by the Sindh government — to influence the headcount by issuing CNICs to residents of rural areas, which he describes as being tantamount to “pre-census rigging”.

Basing his fears on two news reports annexed with the letter, he maintains that the Sindh government has been proactively pursuing the issuance of CNICs in rural areas. “It is no secret that the sindh government only and exclusively represents rural Sindh with a predictable tilt. Its participation in the census exercise, which is a federal subject, is likely to produce unsavoury results.”

Justice Wajihuddin told Dawn that a census can affect citizens’ socio-political fate more than even a general election, which was why it was absolutely essential that the headcount be carried out strictly in line with constitutional principles.

He said that if the exercise appeared to deviate from the specified procedure, he would approach the Supreme Court under Article 184(3), which deals with the enforcement of citizens’ fundamental rights. “What can be more fundamental for fundamental rights than a population census?” he asked.

The letter, addressed to Chief Census Commissioner Asif Bajwa, Statistics Division Secretary Tariq Mehmood Pasha, National Institute of Population Studies Director Dr Mukhtar Ahmed and Nadra Chairman Usman Mobin, urges these officials to provide information about how the centre is safeguarding its exclusive jurisdiction over the census.

The former SC judge notes that information available on the official website of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics puts Pakistan’s population — provided with a province- and district-wise breakup — at over 132 million.

However, on the same website, the total population of the country — as on Sept 30, 2016 — is estimated to be just over 193 million people. This figure, he notes, is not accompanied by a province- or district-wise breakup.

“Significantly, serious questions of public importance, affecting fundamental rights, [influence] the forthcoming census... the first phase of which is scheduled for March 15, 2017. These questions are related to: presence of Afghan refugees, particularly in Balochistan; Hindko speaking population in Hazara; demand of a Seraiki province in South Punjab/Bahawalpur; and the rural – urban divide in Sindh, where the Sindh government has, apparently, requested the federation to allow it to oversee the census exercise in Sindh and also called upon Nadra, in anticipation of the census, to issue CNICs in Sindh’s rural areas,” the letter reads.

Justice Wajih maintains that all such demographic questions need to be addressed without impinging upon the guarantees embedded in the Constitution. “Nadra records reflect an ever evolving data base, which has to be co-related to assess the success and credibility of the census. Quite clearly, there has to be a reasonable and lawful cut-off date for issuance of CNICs before the census... lest it may amount to pre-census rigging.”

“Please treat this as urgent for the census is coming up in March 2017,” he maintains, recalling that this is the first such exercise in 19 years, which is already in defiance of the constitutional requirement of 10-year interludes.

Published in Dawn January 26th, 2017