Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Senator Taj Haider has warned that if the ‘faulty’ methodology used in 2017 census was repeated in the post-enumeration survey (PES) of 5% selected blocks by the organisation that carried out the 2017 census, the results would again be controversial.

In a statement issued on Monday, Senator Taj Haider said that the de jure method used in 2017 census had registered migrants in their provinces of origin and not in the provinces of their current residence. He said it had also missed illegal residents who were a great burden on the provinces in which they were residing. He said the internationally accepted de facto method which records residents at their current place of residence was the only method to record population correctly and that method should be used in the post-enumeration survey of 5 % selected blocks.

The PPP senator called for the use of internationally recognised templates for enumeration that records the data and transmits it online to controlling offices. These returnable templates are supplied by UN Population Fund free of cost, he said, adding that the data should also be sent to provincial governments to maintain transparency of the survey.

Senator Taj Haider demanded the formation of a mutually agreed ‘census commission’ comprising of recognised demographers to supervise and undertake the PES. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) should only provide logistics and administrative services to the agreed census commission, he said.

He said that the PBS, after wasting over Rs 4 billion in the house count of 2011 and around Rs 18 billion in the controversial 2017 census, was continuously trying to justify its faulty methodology and controversial count; and only a commission of recognised and mutually agreed demographers could earn the trust of the people.

The PPP senator said that the way forward was not difficult if internationally recognised methods were used by recognised demographers. These easy to follow methods also save considerable time and resources while ensuring transparency, he said.

Senator Taj Haider regretted that the government was continuously ignoring these justified demands and had launched a campaign to defame the PPP whose 50 year long sacrifices for democracy and constitution were part of history.

Published in Daily Times, November 5^th 2017.