A valid question

Chief Justice Anwer Zaheer Jamali has asked the government a very valid question. And we would also like to join him in asking what guarantee is there that the required number of army personnel would be available to conduct the census next March. The chief justice had asked the question in response to the government’s plea that a census would not be possible before the deadline and that too only if armed forces personnel were available. His question becomes all the more pertinent because the army without whose help the government finds it impossible to conduct the long delayed census is currently engaged in an existential war in the form of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. This war is showing no sign of ending in a hurry, more so considering the resilience displayed by various terrorists groups since the launch of the operation in June 2014.

The chief justice is justified in asking that if the government is so dependent on the army, then why it doesn’t hand over the whole system to it. Also, he has rightly pointed out that the basis of any democratic system is the census. Indeed, no matter how you try to manage your economy at the official level, there is no way you can come up with a policy that ensures equity across the board if you don’t know how many mouths you need to feed in the coming 12 months, how many bodies need to be clothed and how many families need to be provided with shelter. So, in the first place, the government, in order to ensure that a census is held every 10 years without fail, should lessen forthwith its dependence on the army for this purpose and develop a fully trained-for-the-task civil cadre dedicated to collecting data around the year for the purposes of the census as well as for updating electoral rolls, and simultaneously undertaking periodical delimitation work at least six months before each general election. For these purposes, the NADRA database could also be gleaned as and when updating is needed to be rechecked. Secondly, for purposes of accuracy and integrity of data, the whole exercise should be conducted online using the latest hi-tech gadgetry, including smartphones. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2016.

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