ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Minister of State for Interior Muhammad Balighur Rehman Tuesday informed the Senate that national census would be held after availability of armed forces.
Responding to a calling attention notice of Senators Nasreen Jalil, Ilyas Ahmed Bilour about postponement of census in the country, he said, the census was delayed for the time being due to army engagement in operation Zarb-e-Azb.
The minister said that all preparations regarding availability of funds, appointments of staff, their training had been completed, adding that if there were any reservation of some provinces about census it would be addressed at meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI).
He said the last meeting of Council of Common Interests, held on February 29, was told that the operation Zarb-e-Azb was still continued and the army was engaged there.
He assured the House that as soon as the armed forces were available census would be held.
He said that the CCI meeting held on March 18, 2015, had decided that the census would be held in March, 2016, under the supervision of army and as per proposal of the Statistics Division.
Balighur Rehman said the last national census was held in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in 1998 and assured the legislatures that the forthcoming census would also be held during the tenure of this government.
