Pakistan census source of fear and hope for minorities
RABWAH: Marginalised, attacked and frequently hit by fake charges, Pakistan’s minorities are hoping the country’s first census since 1998 will be a step towards greater political representation and rights.
In the congested Lahore district of Youhanabad, the largest Christian neighbourhood in Pakistan, activist Sajid Christopher says his community looks forward to standing up and being counted.
“The census will benefit us in two ways. Firstly we will be able to know about our exact population as so far there has been only guesswork,” he said.
“Secondly, our representation in parliament will be according to our population as our present representation in the democratic system is based on the census of 1981,” he added.
Fast-growing Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world, with an estimated 200 million people, but has not held a census for nearly two decades, despite a constitutional requirement for one every decade.
The count was delayed for years by politicians squabbling over the potential implications.
Estimates are approximate and disputed, ranging from two to 10 million for Christians, and 2.5 to 4.5 million for Hindus.
Christopher’s views were echoed by Nancy Stiegler, an advisor for the UN Population Fund who called the census a “powerful tool for planning” not only for minorities, “but all the population of Pakistan”.
This desire for more accurate data goes to the heart of the controversy surrounding the census: that it will redraw political boundaries and force a redistribution of resources.
The process is not complications — and minorities are eager themselves known.
Minorities find themselves in a dangerous position when census officials arrive asking them to declare without not all to make their religion. When a Balochistan resident identified himself as Ahmadi to Pakistani census officials, they chased him out of the mosque where they had gathered families to be counted, Saleemuddin, a spokesman for the community, said, without identifying the man.
In other cases, he said, census officials simply assume the Ahmadis are Muslim because their names are indistinguishable from the general population and tick that box on their behalf. It is a potentially dangerous move. Under Pakistan’s laws, “If I declare myself as a Muslim... I can be imprisoned for three years,” Saleemuddin said.