ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) on Wednesday said that the process of population census will continue according to the schedule despite a suicide blast which struck a census team in Lahore earlier in the morning.
In a statement, the FBS officials said that Lahore terror incident will not disrupt the ongoing population census. They said that the security will further be improved to avoid any further untoward incident in the future.
Earlier in the morning, a suicide blast struck a team of population census in Bedian Road area of Lahore which left six people including four Pakistan army soldiers and two civilians martyred. The blast also caused injuries to 19 more people.
The targeted team was involved in conducting the sixth Population and Housing Census which continues in 63 districts including Lahore throughout the Country during the First Phase which will last till April 15. In order to ensure peaceful conduct of census, 200,000 Pakistan army personnel have also been deployed along with the census teams.
The Lahore blast triggered a wide-ranging condemnation as all political leadership – whether ruling and in opposition – as well as military leadership strongly condemned the blast, and expressed grief over the loss of precious lives.