SHC issues notices to CCI, PBS, others on plea challenging census results

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Council of Common Interests (CCI), finance secretary, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Sindh Chief Secretary and other respondents to furnish their replies to a petition challenging the provisional results of 6^th census.

A division bench of SHC, hearing the petition filed by a citizen Iqbal Kazmi requesting the court to order fresh census under the supervision of a judicial commission.

The petitioner submitted that the results of the census were not accurate and doctored to trample on the rights of people. Rights should not be usurped on the basis of their language, ethnicity, and religion, he argued.

He pleaded with judges to direct the authorities concerned to carry out census exercise afresh under the supervision of a judicial commission to ensure transparency throughout the process.

He further requested them to stay the general elections, scheduled to be held in June next year, until the fresh census is not carried out.

After hearing preliminary arguments, the bench issued notices to the official respondents of the concerned government entities and federal and provincial law officers.

Earlier on Aug 25, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics had unveil provisional census report showing the country’s current population at 207.7 million against 132 million that was counted in the last census in 1998.

The statistics showed that the population of the country is at 2.7% annual growth rate over a period of 1998-2017.

Following the census findings, almost all political parties hailing from the Sindh province rejected the results.