ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Bureau of Statistics yesterday ruled out the possibility of conducting population census in different phases due to movement of the people as well as new births and deaths, which could delay the much-awaited census.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) rejected option of conducting census in phases. The government was considering an option of holding census in phases after the army refused to provide required number of troops on account of security reasons. “Population census can be delayed if required number of people for security is not provided,” said Chief Statistician Asif Bajwa, while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Finance that met with Senator Saleem Mandviwalla in the chair. He further said PBS was continuously negotiating with the army to resolve the issue of population census which was facing delay after 1998.
Sharing the previous plan of holding census, Bajwa told the Senate panel that PBS had initially planned to complete it in 19 days. However, it could not be predicted how much time it would take, he added. Talking about the inclusion of foreigners, he said everyone who has the identity card issues by National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) would be counted.
Committee Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla noted that population census could not be initiated on time as reported in the media. He asked the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to issue a media statement to remove confusion regarding conducting population census in the country.
The Senate Standing Committee on Finance also discussed the fraud of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) branch in Bangladesh. The officials of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told the committee that reference in the NBP fraud case would be filed in next two to three months before converting the inquiry into investigation.
Giving details of the scam, the committee was informed that operation of NBP Bangladesh branch was started in 1994 with the opening of one branch. Later, three more branches of the bank were opened in 2008, which had maximum number of employees belonging to Bangladesh. A total liability of $170 million was against the loaning.
The NBP president told the committee that nine people, two Pakistanis and seven Bangladeshis, were involved in the operation while loan default of NBP in Bangladesh was very nominal up to 2010.
The Parliamentary committee also discussed the scam of Modarba companies. The NAB director general told the committee that 25 companies were involved in the scandal and none of them was registered with the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
“We have recovered Rs 2 billion of the total fraud of Rs 24 billion,” the NAB DG said. He added the NAB had frozen the assets of Rs 13 billion. There companies were involved in Rs 20 billion Modarba fraud. The company of Mufti Ehsanullah was involved in Rs 10 billion fraud, another company in Rs 7 billion fraud while the third one was involved in Rs 3 billion fraud, the committee was briefed.
The committee was also briefed on issuance of $ 500 million Euro bonds. The committee insisted that money was remitted from Pakistan to buy the bonds at very exorbitant markup. Saleem Mandviwalla, talking to media persons after holding in-camera briefing on Eurobonds, said the committee had decided to call financial adviser of the transaction to give us details of the account from where money was transferred abroad.
Similarly, he said the committee would also invite State Bank of Pakistan in the next meeting of the committee to get information for transfer of money abroad.