SEVERAL parties and groups have demanded that the census should not be held until refugees and other outsiders are removed from their area, or at least not counted.

This negates the very purpose of a census, which is to determine the number of people present at a particular point in time. How can anyone plan for the future without knowing the actual number of people to be catered for?

One concern is that over or under counting will change the number of parliamentary constituencies. This can surely be overcome by using the number of CNICs issued to determine the number of voting adults (and if CNICs have not been issued, there is still time to do so on an emergency basis).

It has been reported that 130 million CNICs have been issued against an estimated population of 193 million, but this discrepancy can probably be almost completely explained by the fact that CNICs are issued to adults over 18 years of age and a large proportion of the population is under 18.

Thus, it is proposed that everyone present be counted, and this tally should be the basis of all future planning and allocation of funds. The demarcation of political constituencies should be on the basis of CNICs issued.

Khalid R Hasan

Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017