Islamabad 15 March 2023 (GNP): The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government gave provincial governments access to the census monitoring dashboards on Tuesday to at least partially allay concerns raised by the top PPP leadership about the digital census just a few days earlier. This action followed a threat by the Pakistan People’s Party to resign from federal ministries.
Amid a period of political turbulence and severe financial difficulties in the country, and just ahead of general elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the government’s decision to provide provincial governments, particularly Sindh, with access to the census monitoring dashboards is mainly aimed at convincing this crucial ally to remain supportive of the federal government and refrain from reconsidering their position.
In a letter to the head of the National Database and Registration Authority, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Chief Statistician Dr. Naeemuz Zafar stated: “It has been decided that the statistics as required by the provincial governments, especially Sindh… may be included in the monitoring dashboard” (NADRA).
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According to the chief census commissioner, the dashboard has been put into use for chief secretaries, and it is suggested that role-based access be given to all provincial/regional chief secretaries, commissioners, deputy commissioners (DCs), and assistant commissioners (ACs).
Due to the sensitive nature of the issue, Zafar suggested that NADRA teams should be instructed to ensure that all DCs and ACs have access to the dashboard by March 15 at all census district levels, to increase participation, transparency, and credibility for this extremely important national activity.
The Chairman of PPP and Foreign Minister, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, had issued a warning to withdraw from the ruling coalition due to objections regarding the ongoing digital census, as well as the Centre’s failure to deliver promised relief to flood victims in Sindh.
Following this, in a press conference, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon announced that the provincial government had expressed concerns about the ongoing digital census to the federal government, and warned that if these concerns were not addressed, the census results would not be accepted.
Memon had insisted that the data from the digital census must be shared with the Sindh government, noting that the PPP chairman had already publicly expressed the party’s concerns regarding the digital census.
The Sindh Chief Minister, Murad Ali Shah, had raised the issue with the federal government as well as at various other forums, and had stated that they were now awaiting the federal government’s response to alleviate these concerns.
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Ahsan Iqbal, the minister for planning, development, and special initiatives, decided to grant provincial governments access to the dashboards of the 7th Population & Housing Census – The Digital Census – at the 8th meeting of the Census Monitoring Committee on March 11 in an effort to allay concerns and keep the PPP a member of the ruling coalition.
As a result, the PBS requested in a letter to NADRA that it grant provincial governments access to the dashboard by March 15. A PBS official claimed that “the bureau has urged NADRA to offer access to census monitoring dashboards to provincial administrations to assuage worries”.
The official further stated that the responsibility for conducting the census field operations lies with the provinces, and it is now up to NADRA to provide them with the necessary information.
Asif Ali Zardari, the president of the PPP Parliament, had already voiced displeasure with the ruling coalition in a statement, which was followed by Bilawal’s admonition to resign its ministries over the census and the federal government’s failure to keep its commitments to flood victims.
The media and political circles had interpreted the PPP’s warnings as an effort to distance itself from the PDM government’s failures in governance and the economy. It was also suggested that PPP was preparing to exit the ruling coalition. After the PML-N attempted to persuade PPP to remain with the coalition by providing dashboard access to the provincial government, the planning minister was questioned about the situation, but no response was received at the time of filing the story.
