PESHAWAR, May 25: Federal Minister for Population Welfare Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain at a seminar on “Population and Development” on Thursday said: “The government is working diligently to engage religious scholars in its campaign to reduce the rate of population growth.”

Addressing the seminar, which was jointly organized by the Population Welfare Department NWFP, Faculty of Islamic Studies and Oriental Languages and Population Welfare Islamabad, Chaudhry Shahbaz said that the government cannot achieve the goal of population control without the assistance of clerics, especially women scholars, because people believe and follow their words.

He urged upon female scholars to play their role in curbing the problem which was harming the population rate.

He said that an educated and healthy woman could change the destiny of a nation, adding the government was making hectic efforts for improving the lot of the people, which was not possible without controlling the population ratio.

Federal Secretary for Population Welfare Shahzad Sheikh said the population growth rate in other Islamic countries was much lesser in comparison to Pakistan, adding that the annual population growth rate of Iran was 1.2 per cent.

Referring to the policy of the government, Mr Sheikh said that the International Ulema Conference was held successfully in Islamabad to help bridge differences between religious scholars and find a consensus to the threat of the rapidly growing population.

He said that a follow up to the conference would be held on May 29-30.

He said that the government was working at provincial and district levels to muster the support of clerics, adding that it was the prime duty of female scholars to help evolve consensus among the masses regarding family planning.

He said the population was the dividing factor, adding that per capita income and GDP of a country depends on the population, adding that the country has limited resources and can not bear the burden of such a large population that increases at 1.9 per cent annually.

Provincial Minister for Women Development and Population Welfare Department NWFP Kashif Azam said that the provincial government was taking all possible measures for the progress of women and had increased the budget of education three times for the purpose.

He said that the provincial government had set up 14 degree colleges, a Women University and Women Medical College for females.

He said that salaries of females serving in under-developed areas of the province had been increased as an incentive to providing better healthcare facilities to people living in those areas.

The vice-chancellor, University of Peshawar, Prof Dr Haroon Rashid, said that the population explosion had left its impact on the entire society and had multiplied the miseries of the people.

He said that over a period of time religious scholars had realized the seriousness and importance of the problem.

Provincial Secretary for Population Welfare Zahoor Ahmad Khan Khalil presented a vote of thanks.—APP