Centre admits sixth census flawed

The federal government has admitted that the sixth census was flawed, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Monday.

The lack of involvement of stakeholders made it controversial. The statistics agency said that the district administration's reporting method was very weak and locals were not included in the census while updated maps were unavailable in many areas.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) posted the final results of the 6th Population and Housing Census 2017 on its website, according to which the country’s total population stands at 207.68 million, with an annual growth rate of 2.4 percent. The population includes 106.018m males, 101.344m females, and 321,744 transgender persons.

After a three-year delay, the federal cabinet approved the 2017 census in December last year in a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan  -  with a dissenting note submitted by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, one of the federal government’s allies. Since Sindh had opposed the exercise, it also rejected the release of the final results that were approved by the CCI last month.

The PPP, which rules Sindh, has been expressing its reservations since day one but the federal government did not heed. Despite voicing concerns several times, the federal government has remained aloof and proceeded to issue the results, Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah rued.

“They are unaware of the constitution of Pakistan, the matter has to be resolved in the joint session of the parliament,” he said adding that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government is sabotaging the province’s power projects and the matter has not been discussed in the parliament even after pleas.