ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the Senate on Monday rejected the provisional results of census as flawed, raising questions over authenticity of the exercise which showed population of Lahore more than that of Karachi.

The house was in fact discussing the situation arising out of a rapid increase in the country’s population, but somehow it turned into a heated debate on census, marked by a walkout staged by the opposition in protest against what it called inaccurate census results.

Jehanzaib Jamaldini of the Balochisan National Party-Mengal was the only opposition member who kept his tradition of not joining the walkout.

Mian Atiq Ahmad Sheikh of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was in the process of leaving the house when his name was called by the presiding officer for taking part in the discussion, and he stayed with the permission of the chair. Interestingly, retired Col Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of the MQM was presiding over the session at that time.

Angry members stage walkout over figures showing population of Lahore more than that of Karachi

Minister for Education and Professional Training Baleeghur Rehman, in his winding-up speech, advised the opposition not to politicise the issue. “It is a national exercise and not the agenda of some specific political party,” he stressed.

He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had met a constitutional requirement by carrying out population census. He said the fifth census had also been conducted by the PML-N government in 1998.

Pakistan Peoples Party parliamentary leader in the Senate Taj Haider said that a survey showed the population of Karachi at 24.7 million, while the provisional results showed it at 14.7 million. Terming the provisional results inaccurate, he said people from across the country came to Karachi for employment and it was the largest abode of Pakhtuns.

He said the easiest way of reducing population was to ask the federal government to carry out a census. He said the population of Sindh would further reduce if another census was conducted.

Stressing that accurate statistics were essential for a comprehensive planning, he said no one was ready to accept the census results.

Saeedul Hassan Mandokhel of the PML-Quaid said the people of Balochistan had also rejected the census as it was manipulative. He said Punjab was the only province where population increased. He feared that such wrong statistics would fan hatred and refused to accept them while announcing he would stage a walkout from the house, which was joined by almost the entire opposition.

Farhatullah Babar proposed that incentives be provided through the National Finance Commission Award to provinces and through provincial finance awards to local governments for successful adoption of population control measures by local governments. He said this while taking part in a motion moved by Sitara Ayaz of the Awami National Party.

He said that population was a provincial subject and it could not be addressed by the federal government alone through legislative measures.

Mohsin Aziz of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been shown to be 2.46 per cent of the country’s total population, pointing out that it was 2.76pc in the previous census and 3.06pc in the fourth census. He stressed the need for a fair and accurate census for an efficient planning for resource allocation.

Earlier, discussing a motion on the present police system and ways and means for better protection of fundamental rights of the people, the senators lambasted police and called for depoliticising the force.

Rubina Irfan from Balo­chistan said her house had been looted and everybody, including the chief minister and IGP, knew who the looters were, but nothing had been done. The matter was referred by the chair to the Senate standing committee on interior with the instructions to summon the police officers from Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017