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Next general election on fresh census
AFTER a delay of over three and four years, the Council of Common Interest (CCI) finally approved the controversial national population and housing census 2017 with a majority vote and decided to start the process for fresh census by the end of 2021 under which the 2023 general election will be held.
While Punjab, KP and Balochistan approved the census 2017 results, Sindh rejected them.
Keeping in view the reservations expressed by some stakeholders, including the Sindh government, over the results of the census, the CCI decided to launch the process of 7th national population census by October this year.
The MQM, the ruling party coalition partner from Urban Sindh, had already rejected the matter before the CCI.
In view of the large scale reservations on the census results, the CCI also decided to organise a new census for fresh delimitation of the national and provincial constituencies before the next general election in 2023.The Sindh government and MQM are not alone in their concerns.
Opposition parties in the KP had expressed their doubts about data collected from erstwhile FATA.
Similarly, some have misgivings about the authencity and quality of the census data related to religious minorities and transgender persons. The census directly affects the number and size of the national, provincial.
The government says it plans to take all stakeholders on board before starting the next census process later this year to avoid controversies.
Its astonishing. Unfortunately that the status quo favours some and is harmful to others.
It will be naive to expect a wider political consensus over census results without technology.
The present method of collecting population and housing data is unreliable, inefficient, expensive, time consuming and prone to errors. Many countries now use modern technologies to avoid errors.
It is therefore advise-able for the government to deploy technology for the new census to ensure transparent and dependable population and housing data collection.
Its further electoral disputes would arise when in the light of fresh census the number of seats for NA and PA in Sindh would increase in the light of census results and it is apprehensive that PPP will lose its political power in Sindh.
Kanwar Dilshad
Islamabad
The blessed month
Ramazan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Muslims observe this blessed month worldwide as a month of fasting. Ramazan comes with innumerable blessings.
Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said, “When the first night of Ramazan comes, devil is chained, the gates of Hell are locked and not one of them is opened while the gates of Paradise are opened and not one of them is locked.”
Fasting helps us to curb bad deeds and develop self-restraint and self-control. This blessed month provide us opportunities to seek forgiveness from God.
We should try to spend our maximum time in reciting the Holy Quran and making supplications for self and others. We must help destitute peoples around us and give alms to them in this blessed month.
The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said: “Giving alms can erase sins just like water extinguishes fire.”
May Allah make this blessed month of Ramazan a source of forgiveness for all the Muslims, Ameen!
MUHAMMAD SUFYAN
Bhimber, Azad Kashmir
Adapting
to the new lifestyle
Never would have anyone thought of an era of the present time. A world working and dependent on machines. A time where machines and technology are a preference.
The rise in the usage of technology was evident in 2020 when the spread of COVID-19 took over the world and led the people in a different direction.
Be it education, business, entertainment, work life or marketing, all have made their way into the online world.
The heavy lockdown all over the world proved that the existence of technology is of great benefit, along with that it has also showed that in any case of emergency or a pandemic the world can still operate.
The change in the schooling system is one of the biggest changes during this pandemic as before this the usage of internet was restricted to news and entertainment mostly, but ever since the pandemic came, online schooling reached it’s peak.
ALIZEY NAQVI
Karachi
Package
for Sindh
Given the deplorable conditions of the infrastructure of Sindh province, PM Imran Khan announced recently in Sukkur a package worth Rs 446bn for its development.
Similarly, last year, when the monsoon hit Karachi destroying its drainage and civic system, PM Imran Khan also announced and promised a similar package worth Rs 1.1tr which has not been fulfilled as yet.
Like the people of Karachi still waiting for such a package to come, will PM Imran Khan walk the talk this time? Or is it his just pep talk to unnecessarily replenish his political credentials in the interior of Sindh?
RIAZ AHMED SOOMRO
Shikarpur
