Briefing the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Statistics about the population census Chairman Asif Bajwa has said that the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) had verified the national identity cards of 20 per cent of the population through National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), adding that 70 million people in the country do not possess identity cards.
Rejecting the opposition’s demands that the PBS should compare its records with that of the army to get a clear picture, Bajwa said that both institutions had similar records, adding that the army had assisted the department in carrying out the census by ensuring that the process was transparent and by providing security.
Bajwa said that the reason there was not much difference in the population of Karachi and Lahore was that the government had declared the entire Lahore district as urban, while two districts in Karachi were still classified as rural.
These two districts of Karachi may make up between 30-40% of the total population of Karachi.