Pakistanis are standing up and being counted. And since this is a country where everything runs according to Pakistan Standard Time — the good citizenry here have only had to wait almost a decade — this time nearly two decades — to have proof of their existence verified by a new national census. This is believed to be good news for Pakistan’s beleaguered minorities. Conventional wisdom dictates that being recorded and being fed into a national database will lead to greater political representation and, subsequently, increased rights. This is because to date – just as the country has been winging it when it comes to total population figures – it has paid even scanter attention to its minorities. Current estimates for Pakistan’s Christian community ranges anywhere from 2-10 million; similarly, the Hindu community finds itself put at anything from 2.5-4.5 million. But this being Pakistan – where minorities are routinely targeted with false allegations of blasphemy that can see them lynched to death, or else burned alive — the risks, for many, that come with being ‘outed’ far outweigh the dream of greater parliamentary representation, or even just knowing community strength in terms of absolute figures for purposes of possible mobilisation. For even the process of declaring one’s belief system to those who are to record it is not, at times, without peril. There has been at least one case whereby an Ahmadi gentleman was chased out of a mosque by those charged with data compilation. Which begs the question: who are the accompanying Army teams there to protect? *