ISLAMABAD       -       The representatives of smaller provinces will soon try to include population census in the agenda of Council of Common Interest (CCI) for the final result of the 2017 population census.

The controversial results of the population census could not be announced due to certain reservations of the smaller provinces and its political factions.

Some political forces [PPP-P, MQM-P and BNP-M] had demanded the audit of the 6th national population census, conducted in 2017 and also submitted a petition in the court in this regard. Sources said that the provinces would submit requests in the CCI’s secretariat to include the population census’s result in the upcoming CCI’s meeting.

The meeting of CCI is likely to be held by the end of next month. The matter had been presented before the CCI in its meeting held on March 27. However, a concrete decision in that regard was not made.

Sources said that the government would like to resolve the matter soon after completely dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The matters have not been raised in the CCI’s meeting, despite the requests from the representatives Balochistan and Sindh at least on two occasions.

The matter regarding the formal result of population census was also raised in the parliament. The government side expressed helplessness by arguing that the matter was subjudiced.

The joint census commissioner, in the latest development, has reportedly informed that the final result of the 2017 census has been forwarded to the Council of Common Interest (CCI) .

The provisional summary results of the 6th Population and Housing Census-2017 shows that Pakistan’s population has touched 207.8 million mark with an increase of 57 per cent since 1998.

The population, in the last 36 years, grew by 146.6 per cent (since the last census-1981), and a declining trend was observed in the growth rate in the two bigger provinces Punjab and Sindh.

According to the results, Sindh was the most urbanised province, where 52.02 per cent population lived. The results saw a declining trend in the population growth rate in Sindh. The declining trend was reportedly the main reason that forced the PPP-P to file a writ petition.