KARACHI: With little chances of any further extension in the ongoing population census deadline, the headcount of Karachi is still far from touching the 20 million mark as officials believe the final count of the people living in the metropolis will not be over 19m when the mega exercise ends on Monday (today).

The prospects of the ongoing census for the Karachi population number appear to be alarming as the city headcount would be little more than 16.05, — the official number of the Sixth Population Census 2017 — giving birth to many burning questions ranging from pace of city population growth over the years to the effectiveness of the multi-billion rupees fresh exercise which has created more controversies than providing solutions.

“By the end of the week [May 12], the total number of Karachi population stood at little more than 18.6m,” said a Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) official citing the data compiled over the weekend.

“The enumeration process on weekly holidays [Saturdays and Sundays] is normally lean in terms of results and in some cases not executed with full capacity. So there aren’t any chances of any extraordinary growth in that number in the remaining days of the enumeration,” he said, adding that he did not expect any further extension beyond May 15 deadline.

Enumerators could hardly count 19m people despite multiple extensions in deadline

The PBS last month extended the last date of census for another 15 days after a detailed briefing was given to ministers, lawmakers and leaders of political parties to allay their concerns over the exercise.

It was the fourth extension in the census deadline since it was officially started on March 1 amid growing complaints and protests of political parties having electoral mandate in Karachi as the population of the city remained the basic bone of contention that emerged out of the 2017 census.

Political parties, particularly Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Jamaat-i-Islami, claimed that the final count of city residents was substantially less than the actual number.

MQM-P, JI to not accept results

With the process of counting almost over, it would be interesting to see the reaction of the parties, including the one which is the ally of the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement in the federal government.

The JI has already announced that it would resist any bid to undercount Karachi’s population below 35m.

“The population of Karachi wasn’t even 16.05m in 2017 and that was the reason which triggered questions, protest and finally forced the government to go for fresh census,” said JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman.

“After spending billions of rupees of public money, you are still telling us that 2017 census was wrong and actually the Karachi population is 19m. Is this a joke? Internationally recognised studies, authentic surveys and dozens of academic research have proved that Karachi population is much higher than 30m and they’re telling us to accept this number. Not at all, we would resist,” he said.

He said that the people of Karachi would not accept this as they’re now aware that it’s the nexus of political parties against Karachi only to depriving them of their rights.

The MQM-P, on the other hand, also ruled out accepting the results of the census, which it said has so far failed to count all the people living in city high-rises.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, the party said that the PBS had failed to count all the 38,000 high-rise building in the metropolis which were earlier left out. Even PBS teams from Islamabad, it said, failed to meet the desired results.

“And all this conspiracy is being hatched to show the higher number of population of a certain ethnic unit,” said the MQM-P statement.

“The actual number of Karachi population can grow many times if the enumeration process is carried out with honesty. The MQM-P will not accept the results of such census. The party will keep raising the voice till the count of the last person living in Karachi. When needed, it would also take to the street and parliament for the protest,” it said.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2023