Islamabad, June 23, 2021 (PPI-OT):President Dr Arif Alvi has called for special efforts to arrange national and international finances for promoting family planning and checking the growing population of the country. He emphasised the need for holding a donor conference on population to help the Government in stemming the rising tide of population. The President highlighted that rapidly growing population had direct negative impacts on climate change, environment and was putting tremendous pressure on the natural and economic resources of the country. He expressed these views while chairing the 4th meeting of the Federal Task Force on Alarming Population Growth in Pakistan, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, today.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, SAPM for Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Sania Nishtar, SAPM for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC), Dr Faisal Sultan, Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), Dr Qibla Ayaz, Minister for Population Welfare KPK, Mr Ahmed Hussain Shah, Secretary NHSRC, Mr Amir Ashraf Khawaja, Chief Secretary Sindh, Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, Chief Secretary KPK, Dr Kazim Niaz, Secretary Population Welfare Department of Punjab, Mr Ali Bahadur Qazi, Country Director Population Council, Islamabad, Dr Zeba Sathar, Country Representative of UNFPA, technical experts and senior officials of federal and provincial governments attended the meeting. Ministry of NHSRC gave a detailed presentation on the population planning’s strategy.

The provincial representatives, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), briefed the meeting about the measures taken by their respective governments for promoting family planning services. It was informed that the provincial governments were seriously focusing on population control measures by allocating more resources, enhancing the availability of contraceptives, creating awareness through media, and training and increasing the number of human resource to cope with the challenge of growing population. It was agreed that the provincial governments would proactively engage Ulemas, Khateebs and religious leaders to promote healthy family norms in the country.

Addressing the meeting, the President said that Ulema and media had played exceptional role in creating awareness against COVID-19, adding that they could also play an instrumental role in educating the people about the implications of burgeoning population in their Friday sermons and talk shows. He advised the provincial governments to adopt an integrated approach and share their expertise, research and experiences with each other to stem the tide of rising population. The President appreciated the steps taken by the provincial governments with regard to family planning.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, informed that rapidly growing population was the greatest challenge facing the country and it could only be overcome with the active support of Ulema, media and civil society. He assured that Ulema would extend their support to sensitize the people about the alarming population growth. Chairman CII, Dr Qibla Ayaz, emphasised the need for focusing on girls’ education and community participation to raise awareness about family planning.

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