ISLAMABAD: Not impressed with the government report elucidating reasons for delay in conducting the population census, the Supreme Court ordered the government on Friday to come out with a definitive time frame for holding the much-needed head count.

“We are not impressed with the paperwork,” observed Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, regretting that this was not the first time when the constitutional mandate was being trampled by democratically elected governments.

“We have beautifully decorated the green book [Constitution] in cupboards only to be forgotten,” the chief justice lamented.

“Our only anxiety is that the constitutional obligations should be implemented in letter and spirit at all cost,” observed the chief justice who was heading a two-judge Supreme Court bench which had taken up a suo motu notice of the delay for the last eight years in the conduct of the population census.

The court ordered the government to submit a written statement highlighting a definitive time frame when it intended to hold the census.

On Thursday the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), through Additional Attor­ney General (AAG) Muhammad Waqar Rana, submitted a report highlighting a host of reasons for delay in the conduct of the census and also expressing helplessness in proposing a fresh time frame due to unavailability of around 167,000 armed forces personnel for deployment at man-to-man level.

In its reply, the government had emphasised that deployment of armed forces’ personnel at present was not possible due to their engagements in operation Zarb-i-Azb and other security-related tasks.

Moreover, in a letter to the PBS by the Chief of Army Staff Secretariat, the GHQ had also pointed out that the presence of a large number of Afghan refugees in Balochistan would adversely impact the ethnic profile of the province. Besides, the census operation will also be hindered unless fake computerised national identity cards of Pakis­tan issued to Afghans are not cancelled.

On Friday, the AAG conceded that holding of the census was the obligation of the federal government as decided by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) under the 18th Amendment, but the Constitution did not place any legal bar when the census should be held, though the Geneva Convention suggested conduct of this exercise after every 10 years.

He also stated that the government had already allocated substantial funds in the federal budgets of 2014, 2015 and then 2016 but due to the unavailability of armed forces’ personnel, the holding of the census was not possible at present.

The government estimates suggest that almost Rs14.5 billion will be needed for the exercise of holding the population census.

“Are you suggesting that it is not the constitutional responsibility of the government to hold the census in time and, therefore, it is not ready to conduct census for the next 200 years?” Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed observed.

“Inform the court in categorical terms whether the government has any interest in holding the census or not,” the chief justice observed and postponed the proceedings for two weeks to allow the government to submit a written statement when it intended to hold the census.

In its report, the PBS had explained that the population census was the biggest peacetime logistic exercise involving mobilisation of about 200,000 manpower, including 167,000 enumerators, one for each block.

As soon as the availability of the army personnel is ensured, the report highlighted, the PBS will conduct the census in the country as per schedule approved by the CCI, the report stated.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2016