KARACHI: The multi-party conference (MPC) held here on Sunday under the auspices of the Pakistan Peoples Party demanded that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in consultation with the federal and provincial governments evolve a transparent policy and credible process for national census which should be monitored by provincial governments within their respective territory.

The MPC unanimously adopted a 14-point resolution during its deliberations at CM House. Representatives of over 25 political, religious and nationalist parties, besides some civil society organisations, attended the conference which was presided over by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

In his welcome address, Mr Shah expressed his pleasure over the unanimity of all participants on the holding of the census according to the original scheduled. He expressed his confidence that the MPC’s recommendation would help Sindh plead its case forcefully at the next CCI meeting.

The chief minister noted with concern that neither Sindh was taken on board nor was he or any of his cabinet colleagues was consulted before the setting up of the census commission. “A census commission is supposed to have equal representation from provinces. As such, the commission is controversial,” he argued. He also regretted that Sindh’s stance on the NFC [National Finance Commission] Award was “misreported”.

“We have reservations even over the 1998 census [results], but we accepted it in the larger interest of the country,” Mr Shah said.

The chief minister also spoke of a sense of deprivation among the people of Sindh because, according to him, the province was not getting its due share in the national resources for want of census. “A just distribution of national resources is possible only when census is held in a transparent manner,” he contended, and claimed that if true figures are collected, Sindh would show a population many times higher than it had been established through a flawed census.

One of the 14 points of the resolution said that three days for house count and 15 days for head count set in the schedule were insufficient to complete the exercises. It suggested 10 days for house count and 30 days for the head count. It stressed that in no circumstances, the census be postponed.

The MPC expressed its strong reservations over the composition of the National Census Commission’s governing body saying that all but one of its members belonged to the biggest province.

All the members were retired officials reappointed on a contract basis, it added. The conference demanded an equal representation from all provinces in the governing body (council).

The council members should be permanent government employees and should be assigned their responsibilities in accordance with the relevant directives of the Supreme Court, it said.

• The responsibilities be given instead contract employees to permanent employees who could be answerable to the governments.

The other points of the resolution were:

• All provinces should have equal representation in the officer grade posts in the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and the institution be directed to detect and cancel all CNICs issued to illegal immigrants.

  • The responsibilities of house count and head count be assigned to provincial government employees while personnel of the army and other law enforcement agencies be entrusted with the supervision and security responsibilities. The LEAs should check use of force or threats by anyone during the census process.
  • The data collection and printing process must be computerised in all provinces so that it could be updated till the completion of the census.* The federal government should take necessary arrangements for the repatriation of illegal immigrants to their country of origin and ensure availability of livelihood to the residents of backward areas within their neighbourhoods by creating job opportunities for them in order to check migration of people from one province to the other under economic pressure.
  • Sindh’s legitimate rights be protected through legislation in accordance with the Constitution.

The resolution, read out by Sindh PPP secretary general Taj Haider, expressed its deep concern over the fact that under different methods adopted during the previous census, the population of Sindh was shown much fewer than it actually was. It also noted with concern the constant influx in Sindh of illegal immigrants and people of other provinces in search of livelihood.

The MPC deliberations were conducted by Sindh Senior Minister for Education and Literacy Nisar Ahmad Khuhro.

Maula Bux Chandio, Dr Sikander Mandhro, Nasir Hussain Shah, Waqar Mehdi, Rashid Rabbani, Lal Bux Bhutto, Najme Alam and Manzoor Abbas of the PPP; Khwaja Izharul Hassan, Kanwar Naeed Jamil and Yousuf Khanzada of the MQM; Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Mehtab Akbar Rashdi and Nand Kumar of the PML-F; Sentor Nehal Hashmi, Haji Shafi Jamote and C.L. Das Kohistani of the PML-N; Dr Arif Alvi and Khurram Sherzaman of the PTI; Rashid Mehmood Soomro of the JUI-F; Younus Buneri of the ANP; Ayaz Latif Palijo of the QAT; Dr Qadir Magsi of the STP; Syed Ghulam Shah of the SUP; Asadullah Bhutto of the JI; Abdullah Muzahir of the MWM; Sahebzada Abul Kahir of the JUP-N; Faheem Shaikh of the PST; and Elahi Bux Bikak of the JSQM were among the leaders who attended the conference.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2016