DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The participants of a multiparty conference here on Sunday rejected the results of the recently held census and demanded of the government to conduct the exercise again in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts.

The conference was organ-ised by Dera and Tank Civil Society Action Committee in Mufti Mahmood Library Hall to raise voice over results of census. The participants of the conference said that population of both the districts was shown lower than the original one owing to negligence of enumerators.

Through a resolution, they demanded of the authorities to address the concernsofthe people of both the districts and conduct the exercise again. Former MNA Dawar Khan Kundi, former MPAs Fatehullah Miankhel, Mazhar Jameel Ali Zai, Ahmed Karim Kundi andIhtesham Javed Akbar besides local leaders of political parties addressed the conference.

They said that thousands of residents of both the districts were not counted during census.

They said that the missed out people should be counted to ascertain the actual population ofboth the districts.

The speakers said that the people of merged districts were living in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank but they were registered in their native areas. The participants of the conference decided to set up a protest camp and hold a rally on May 14.

The local political and reli-gious leaders, teachers, lawyers, transporters, social workers, traders, writers, elders, youth, students, local government members and representatives of trade unions from Dera Ismail Khan and Tank attended the conference.

The speakers said that a family often consisted of 10 members but the number was shown six in the recent census. They said that many areas and neighbourhoods were not included in the census. They said that hundreds of families were not registered owing to negligence of enumerator.

They said that according tothe number of households, the population of Dera Ismail Khan should be up to 2.3 million as Drazanda tehsil was recently merged into the district.

Similarly, the semi-tribal area of Jandola was included in Tank recently but despite that the population of the district was shown decreased in the census, they said.

Dawar Khan Kundi, the head of the action committee, said that a comprehensive action plan would chalked out acceptance of their demand and as a first step a protest rally and camp would be held on May 14.