- Wrong info during population census would be liable to criminal charges: Maryam Aurangzeb
- Every soldier deployed would have a link with the office of ND&RA to catch the culprits: DG ISPR
ISLAMABAD, March 12: Government has announced on Sunday that 6th population census is to be held in Pakistan on March 15 and will conclude over a period of two months, by May 15.
Maryam Aurangzeb and Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations, Major General Asif Ghafoor Bajwa held a joint press conference in the federal capital today to lay out details over the census that is being held in Pakistan after 19 years, last one being in 1998.
The Minister of State for Information, Aurangzeb announced that the budget reserved for the purpose is Rs 18.5 billion and that persons holding dual nationalities as well as those who are homeless would be included.
The process would be held in two phases, first phase is to conclude on April 15 while the second on May 15. She recalled that the last census was carried out during the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, like the census this year. The minister said that ongoing counter-terror operations across the country caused the delay in holding the census. Services of employees of the government would be rendered for the cause, she added. All the government employees concerned are ready to kick start the process in their areas concerned. On the occasion, Major General Bajwa said that 0.2 million troops would render services for the cause. He said that Council of Common Interests decided that services of army troops would be sought for the census this year. The process would conclude in two phases. Every enumerator would have a soldier deployed for his security, the DG of ISPR cleared. Every soldier deployed would have a link with the office of National Database and Registration Authority to catch the culprits who lie to the officials concerned. Misinformation provided to enumerators would be considered a crime, Major General Bajwa said.
While answering a question, DG of ISPR cleared that if found guilty of misrepresenting the facts to the enumerators, a person could be sentenced to six months in prison and a fine ranging up to Rs 15,000. A total of 18,918 officials have been trained to conduct the census across Pakistan. It is the constitutional obligation of the government to organise a population census, Maryam Aurangzeb said. The government’s representative in the media briefing, Aurangzeb thanked the Pakistan Army for its support in holding a much needed census. She rubbished the ‘speculation’ over census commission of Balochistan. She further said that the total number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan would be revised and delimitations across the country would be made in light of the new figures.-DNA
