Sixth Population Census begins in Pakistan

KARACHI: Sixth Population Census begins in 63 districts of Pakistan on Wednesday after a gap of 19 years under the security of military troops, ARY News reported.

The census will begin with house count in 63 districts of the country including eight districts of Sindh including Karachi, 16 districts of Punjab, 14 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar and 15 districts of Balochistan.

Moreover, the population will also begin in five districts of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and Orakzai tribal region.

The population count, usually conducted in Pakistan after every decade, this time being started in the country after 19 years period.

According to the law, the people who will provide wrong information to the enumerators will face six-month jail term and Rs. 50,000 fine over the breach of the census rules.

Special forms have been printed for the first phase of the census that will continue from March 15 to April 15.

To ensure authenticity and avoid fake data a bar-code has been added to the form. The photo-copied forms will not be counted as only machine-readable forms will be deemed authentic.

Each enumerator will be given the map of his or her area for the census. The houses having more than one family will be counted on the basis of separate kitchens.

According to the government sources, national identity cards are not compulsory for being counted in the population count. The people not having the national identity card would also be registered for the census.

Preliminary figures of the population census will be released within 60 days of the practice, officials said.

The census body has set up complaint cells to cater the complaints over the process.