PESHAWAR, July 28: NWFP Minister for Population Welfare and Women Development Kashif Azam has conceded that it an uphill task to reduce the rate of population growth in the religious and Pukhtun-dominated society.

Speaking at an awards distribution ceremony held in connection with the World Population Day at a local hotel on Thursday, he said that the ministry staff faced problems in convincing people about benefits of population control.

“In modern age, growing population is no more considered as a source of power but this problem cannot be solved by using force,” he said.

Mr Azam further said that the times had changed and now the Muslims were supposed to understand the ground realities which demanded rational thinking on the population issue.

“Islam is a religion of quality, not quantity, and it lays emphasis on a life of better quality,” the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal minister said.

While stressing the need for population control, he said: “As soon as we accept this reality, new avenues of social development will open.”

He further said that Islam called for human welfare and the MMA government was making every attempt to bring positive change in the life style of commoners. He added that in this regard special plans in education and health sectors had been prepared to bring the life style in rural areas at par with that in urban centres.

Speaking on the occasion, educationist Qibla Ayaz urged the Islamic scholars to educate the masses about the benefits of population control.

He said that as population had became a barrier in the way of social development, logical interpretation of Islamic teachings, favouring population control, should be offered.

He further said that in the early age of Islam, there had been a shortage of manpower, therefore, the Muslims of those days were advised to give birth to more children so that they could convey the message of Islam to the world.

Now, he added, when the Muslims population had surpassed their net resources, attention should be focussed on population control.

He suggested that the funds being provided by the donor agencies should be invested in spreading education in rural parts of the country.

Mr Ayaz said that educating the rural women would bring a positive change in the life style of rural population and they would start to think about population control.

An educated woman was more informed on how her house could be set in order and how much attention and capital investment was required in upbringing of a child, he said.

He called for setting up entertainment facilities in both urban and rural areas and said that not a single family park in Peshawar was suitable for visits by families.

In case the government was sincere with its cause of bringing down the population ratio at par to its resources, then some entertainment spots should be set up where the privacy of families could be ensured, he argued.

He criticised the tradition of under age marriages in the NWFP and said that the government with the support of community leaders should take steps to discourage those wishing to marry while under 20 years of age.