ISLAMABAD, 5th December 2018: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar said that uncontrolled population growth as is most disastrous problem for Pakistan that leads to many other issues in the country, he said that the issue was not given any attention in the past 70 years.
Head of the apex court was addressing a symposium “Alarming Population Growth in Pakistan: Call for Action” in the Islamabad.
The event was attended by several high-profile personalities, including judges and Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Imran Khan who remained there for four hours long symposium.
CJP Nisar called on the prime minister to probe why no dam had been built in Pakistan in the past 40 years and why the country was facing such an “alarming” situation. CJP said that apex court has no mechanism to get water shortage problem resolved but Prime Minister can do so. He said the Supreme Court has played its part in amplifying and understanding human rights and now it was the Executive’s job to take them forward.
Justice Nisar said the burden on the judicial system did not go back to just the past five to seven years but it was centuries old.
CJP Nisar said we already have the population control models used by other countries and that they just needed to be implemented and awareness needed to be created.
Problems exist due to ‘short-term planning’: Prime Minister
Speaking at the day-long symposium, Imran Khan expressed “the nation’s resolve to address the population growth in the country”, reported Radio Pakistan.
Imran Khan said “The democratic governments unfortunately only used to think about five years,” adding that nothing could be accomplished in that time span for major issues.
The premier recalled the family planning campaigns shown on television in the 1960s, he praised those campaigns and termed them “effective”.
Prime Minister Khan lauded and thanked the CJP for raising the matter of population growth which he called a very “serious issue”.
He said the government has formed task forces to address population growth, adding that he was glad that all provincial chief ministers were on board for the initiative. Khan noted that the delivery system of contraceptives in the country was an issue but what was actually needed was an ambition to resolve the problem.
Khan pointing towards Ulema said “There is a big role for the ulema,” he said, citing examples of Iran and Bangladesh where population control campaigns were done from mosques. The premier said Pakistan too needed to involve its mosques in the campaign.
Renowned religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamil said that the cause behind population growth was “illiteracy” and stressed the importance of education to curb. Maulana ctiticised in a lighter mood that while the symposium was being held in Islamabad, the problem is more prevalent in rural areas.
Vice-president of the Population Council, John Bongaarts, compared, the levels of contraceptives used in Pakistan to other countries in the region such as Bangladesh and India. Furthermore, he presented the benefits of family planning programmes and need of such an event was of great importance.
Co-chair of the WHO’s High-Level Independent Commission on Non-communicable diseases, Dr Sania Nishtar, while addressing the symposium, said “today is a landmark day” and remarked that the “stellar show of strength” of various stakeholders was “critical” to the cause.
A documentary on population dynamics was also presented at the event.