Fighting along LoC delays Pak's first census in 17 years

Islamabad: Non-availability of army personnel due to Indo-Pak tensions has forced authorities to indefinitely postpone Pakistan’s census, the first in 17 years, according to a media report on Sunday.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has not been able to come up with a concrete time frame for conducting the long- awaited sixth population and housing census in the country, Dawn reported.

A meeting was convened by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to review PBS preparations for the census on Saturday. Several such meetings have been held since the Council of Common Interests (CCI) decided to postpone the census in March, 2016 But given the non-availability of army personnel due to escalating tensions along the Line of Control with India, it looks like the census will remain in limbo until the CCI revises its decision, the report said. The last census was held in Pakistan 17 years ago.

“We are ready to hold the census,” a senior PBS official said, but maintained that the decision to conduct census with support from the army was taken in the CCI meeting held in March 2016. The bureau has completed its preparations, he said, adding that it was now up to the CCI to decide and give the bureau a roadmap.

Following the decision to involve the army in the census exercise, the PBS estimated it would need around 1,67,000 army personnel to go door-to-door. In addition, the bureau estimated it would need an additional 20-30,000 personnel to supervise the census operation across the country.