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In pictures: Census teams go door-to-door for Pakistan's first nationwide headcount in 19 years

Politically-charged population count begins amid heavy security as more than 300,000 people collect data door-to-door.
Reuters | AFP | APUpdated 15 Mar, 2017 08:56pm

Pakistan's largest-ever population census kicked off on Wednesday in 63 districts of the country after a delay of 19 years.

Thousands of enumerators accompanied by some 175,000 army personnel began the enormous, politically charged count today. The weeks-long process will deploy a team of more than 300,000 people and involve 55 million forms — as well as a second, separate form distributed by the military.

Emotions continue to run high with qualms about how the entire exercise of counting heads and homes will pan out.

The first census in the country was conducted in 1951, the second in 1961, the third in 1972, instead of 1971 due to political turmoil, and the fourth in 1981. The fifth census, which was due in 1991, was conducted in March 1998 with the help of the army.

Under the constitution, the government is bound to conduct a census every 10 years.

Explore: Pakistan's 6th census: A third sex, nine languages, many faiths

Officials from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics collect information from residents during a census in a narrow street in Karachi. — AFP
Officials from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics collect information from residents during a census in a narrow street in Karachi. — AFP

An enumerator marks a house after collecting information from a resident during a census in Karachi. — AFP
An enumerator marks a house after collecting information from a resident during a census in Karachi. — AFP

Cameramen and photographers document as a census enumerator enters in a building during Pakistan's 6th population census in Karachi. —Reuters
Cameramen and photographers document as a census enumerator enters in a building during Pakistan's 6th population census in Karachi. —Reuters

A woman interacts with an official from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics as an army soldier stands guard in Lahore. — AFP
A woman interacts with an official from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics as an army soldier stands guard in Lahore. — AFP

A government official collects data from a resident during a survey in Karachi. —AP
A government official collects data from a resident during a survey in Karachi. —AP

Another enumerator marks a house as a resident looks on during country's enormous, politically charged census. ─AFP
Another enumerator marks a house as a resident looks on during country's enormous, politically charged census. ─AFP

Officials from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics wait for resident outside a house to collect information during the census as an army soldier stands guard in Karachi. —AFP
Officials from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics wait for resident outside a house to collect information during the census as an army soldier stands guard in Karachi. —AFP

An enumerator marks a house after collecting information from a resident during a census as army soldier stands guard in Lahore. —AFP
An enumerator marks a house after collecting information from a resident during a census as army soldier stands guard in Lahore. —AFP

A census enumerator notes details from a resident during Pakistan’s 6th population census in Karachi. ─Reuters
A census enumerator notes details from a resident during Pakistan’s 6th population census in Karachi. ─Reuters

A herd of goats passes by as a government official collects data from a resident for the census in Karachi. —AP
A herd of goats passes by as a government official collects data from a resident for the census in Karachi. —AP

Pakistani employees of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the headquarters of Population Census 2017, speak on public helplines to give information about census in Islamabad. — AFP
Pakistani employees of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the headquarters of Population Census 2017, speak on public helplines to give information about census in Islamabad. — AFP

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Comments (26) Closed

KHALID YOUSAFZAI (UK)
Mar 15, 2017 08:47pm
after a long time I saw pictures of my loving streets. Great PAKISTAN
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Mohammed
Mar 15, 2017 09:00pm
Is this a head count or looking for criminal with gun men around. What a shame.
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MUHAMMAD
Mar 15, 2017 09:06pm
Why arent they not counting overseas pakistanis. My entire family is being omitted due to this. And there are many pakistanis like me spread globally
Recommend 0
haroon
Mar 15, 2017 09:17pm
PML N will make a mockery, corruption of this data collected. I assure every Pakistani.
Recommend 0
haroon
Mar 15, 2017 09:26pm
@Mohammed That stage that you are mentioning is next. De-weaponisation and door to door checking
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Bilal
Mar 15, 2017 09:46pm
@Muhammad The concept of census is to count individuals living in Pakistan, not overseas. That is the standard worldwide. @Mohammed Well considering that polio workers get shot while trying to give kids polio drops, it is necessary to provide security to individuals who are expected to visit every single house in every single locality of every single city.
Recommend 0
N.S
Mar 15, 2017 09:51pm
Which part of Karachi is this..show the real pictures....
Recommend 0
Zak
Mar 15, 2017 10:06pm
@MUHAMMAD totally agree. Overseas pakistanis should be counted and their address registered.
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Azfar Kamal
Mar 15, 2017 10:21pm
Now imagine, the officials collecting data were using a tablet connected to Nadira data base via. cloud service. As they collect data directly onto the tablet, the IDs and addresses get confirmed and data get updated in real time. Residents signature on electronic data form would also attest to their account. How much time and effort saving could have been by using IoT and DDA!!
Recommend 0
ghaznavi
Mar 15, 2017 10:31pm
These teams should have been accompanied by Nadra registration staff. The Nadra staff could have done preliminary registration with pending verification of the unregistered residents. Finger print verification could have caught duplicate registration.
Recommend 0
shawon
Mar 15, 2017 10:37pm
Pakistan is a beautiful country.
Recommend 0
Alam
Mar 15, 2017 11:06pm
Census must be transparent, video of lady is circulating doing census with pencil ( pen is recommended ) . When asked by Gulstan e Jauhar community, she said that she will fill it in office. It seems that enumerators are not following procedure.
Recommend 0
JustWondering
Mar 15, 2017 11:44pm
A team of 300000 out of which 175000 are military personnel. There must be local police too in the remaining 125000. Even though there are none, the ratio still looks skewed. What is the need for so many army personnel just for an harmless, administrative exercise like the census?
Recommend 0
M. Ahmed
Mar 16, 2017 01:16am
@KHALID YOUSAFZAI (UK) : And those streets need lot of help, such as sanitation, property line respect and water sewer gas power infrastructure.
Recommend 0
PARVEZ PC CHOWDHURY
Mar 16, 2017 03:34am
@Mohammed As You never now, what may come up. Preparation must be there.!
Recommend 0
IMTIAZ ALI KHAN
Mar 16, 2017 03:51am
So nice to see pictures from DAWN they are always world class. Love to see, celebration and occasions pics here. Last time when census took place I think we had one or two tv station/media outlets. Now it's like I can't count. So many jobs have been created in this media Industry, so much improvement in last 20 years it's just amazing to see. Thank you President Pervez Musharraf for opening up the media, Nice. Keep up the good work in picture journalism Dawn.
Recommend 0
IMTIAZ ALI KHAN
Mar 16, 2017 03:54am
@haroon Keep your weapons just don't used them on innocent or that stage you have mentioned will happen.
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sardar ASIF
Mar 16, 2017 05:58am
Why is this necessary? Shouldn't we get the headcount directly from Nadra? They have all the NICs registered and family members registered as well.
Recommend 0
kerala
Mar 16, 2017 06:00am
Simply a mere Census at gun point! !!kudos
Recommend 0
sunny
Mar 16, 2017 06:30am
i dont get why people here criticizing govn for doing this. population projection should be done every ten years. it is done in all western countries. it is sad that it has not been done for past 20 years. we should be happy that finally govern is doing the right thing. Dont compare this with searching criminals in houses. both are separate things and are done by separate departments.
Recommend 0
Akeel Ahmed
Mar 16, 2017 06:45am
well done DAWN for superb pics
Recommend 0
Tanya
Mar 16, 2017 08:31am
Why would a census be politically charged. Isn't it just a head count. I do not understand
Recommend 0
Mamoon afridi
Mar 16, 2017 08:40am
@MUHAMMAD Bro use common sense!! I think government have data about over seas Pakistanis and they can be easily counted in census.
Recommend 0
Aalo Ghosht
Mar 16, 2017 09:12am
In a couple of pictures, the data is being written in pencil which can be easily manipulated. The residents must ensure that the data is written in pen so as to reduce chances of manipulation at a later stage.
Recommend 0
IMTIAZ ALI KHAN
Mar 16, 2017 12:35pm
@kerala No to hate yaar. By the way I love Kerala so much such a beautiful place, I have many friends who live in Gulf who are originally from Kerala.
Recommend 0
option
Mar 17, 2017 09:26am
@Tanya Reasons: Job quota, assembly seats, are just some of the reasons
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