The supreme court has,the other day very rightly given a rap on the knuckles of the government for dilly dallying in carrying out census in the country .The last census was held in 1998.It should have been held in 2008 after ten years when Zardari was in power.The present government can also be faulted on this count because it has been in the saddle for the last three and a half year and it has not been able also to hold it up till now.
The next general elections are due in 2018.The census needs to be completed by the middle of next year so as to give sufficient time to the Election Commission to up date its electoral lists well before the next elections on the basis of latest population figures.
What a pity that the apex court had to,willy nilly, intervene in every matter under the sun virtually because governments in this country have not been performing their functions well in time according to the constitutional requirements.Were it not for the Supreme court’s intervention the government would not have held the local bodies elections also .
FATA needs urgent reforms in many sectors.In order to work out its future political and administrative system commensurate with their aspirations there is a need to sound out the tribesmen who live in the tribal belt and the best and authentic way to do so is to hold a referendum in FATA for knowing whether or not they want an end to the system of collective tribal territorial responsibility which governs their affairs today .In case they want to get it replaced by the police and magistracy system in vogue in settled area,whether they would like the FATA to be merged with the KPK or whether they would like to have a seperate province of their own?It would be better if the census is completed first and then referendum is held in FATA.
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