KARACHI: Pakistan will have her first census in 1951, it was reliably learnt … on Tuesday [Oct 18]. The Pakistan Ministry of the Interior, it is understood, has already taken up the spade-work in this connection. They are believed to be on the look-out for an official to supervise the plan, and hope to hold test censuses before the actual census starts, to train the personnel.

[Meanwhile, according to news agencies in Lahore,] the report of the West Punjab Elec­tion Inquiry Committee, which is now under the consideration of the West Punjab Gover­nor Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, shall be circulated for eliciting public opinion before it is passed on to the Pakistan Constituent Assem­bly for providing a relevant amendment in the Constitution Act, [it was] learnt from reliable sources today [Oct 18]. The final report which was submitted to the West Punjab Governor on Oct 15 by Shaikh Faiz Mohammad, the Committee Chairman, is understood to contain a recommendation for allotment of about 190 seats for the West Punjab Parliament to be filled on an adult franchise. This total has [been] suggested on the basis of one seat for every one lakh of the population.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024