PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has warned it will begin a protest movement if the federal government doesn`t redress its reservations about the ongoing housing and population census, especially the `exclusion` of overseas Pakistanis from the province, without delay.

It also said a multi-party conference would be convened on the issue.

Provincial senior minister for local government Inayatullah Khan told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday that his government had serious reservations about the federal government`s blunders regarding the census, especially the exclusion of overseas Pakistanis,especially those from KP.

He demanded the registration of all expatriates from KP and feared if that didn`t happen, the province`s population would turn out to be less than that reported in the 1998 census.

The minister claimed that around seven million Pakistanis had gone abroad to earn livelihood and most of them belonged to KP.

He said he didn`t have a proper record but according to an educated estimate, every fourth overseas Pakistani belonged to KP, mostly working in the Middle East.

`Around 52 percent expatriates belong to Punjab, 26 percent KP, nine percent Sindh, one percent Balochistan and five percent Fata,` he said.

Mr Inayatullah, who is a Jamaat-i-Islami leader, said the provincial cabinet had already discussed the issue with CM Pervez Khan Khattak asking the chief secretary to take it up with the federal government for corrective measures.

He said a conspiracy was hatched against Pakhtuns asmajority of them had over 10 children but the census form could register only six.

The minister insisted if the census was carried out in the manner it was under way, the province`s population would be far lower than what it actually was adversely affecting the allocation of national resources to the province.

He wondered if the National Database Regulatory Authority had blocked thousands of the computerised national identity cards, how the identity of the heads of the households would be verified.

The minister said the KP people strongly feared that the confidentiality of the census data on part of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistic would decrease the province`s actual population.

`The census data needs to be shared with us (KP) before its finalisation in Islamabad, he said.

The minister called for the inclusionof overseasPakistani Pakhtuns in the census and the removal of the province`s reservations about the exercise.