AS per the existing official mechanism of conducting census, a person standing on a bus stop in, say, Rawalpindi on the day of data-collection is considered a resident of Rawalpindi even if he belongs to Balochistan. This is a serious blunder.

Hundreds of thousands of people from remote areas of the country move to big cities in search of livelihood. They should be counted as residents of their parent districts. When these people are considered residents of big cities, their native districts see loss of budget, quota distribution, employment, and seats in the national and provincial assemblies.

For instance, Chitral has only one seat of the National Assembly and one of the relevant provincial assembly

on the basis of population shown in the latest census. The fact of the matter is that only a quarter of Chitral’s population actually lives there, while the majority has shifted elsewhere in search of livelihood.

If the actual population of Chitral, including those residing elsewhere and the resident population, Chitral will get at least three seats of the National Assembly and six of the provincial assembly. Similar is the case with other remote districts.

If this blunder is not rectified by the decision-makers, the people of Pakistan will never get their fair share in budget, employment and parliamentary represen- tation. There is every reason for the politicians to realise the gravity of the issue.

Shahzadi Aammarah Amin
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2024