MUZAFFARABAD: AJK Minister for Population Welfare, Information Technology and Technical and Vocational Training Dr Mustafa Bashir Abbasi on Tuesday said maintaining a much needed balance between population and resources was a must to put the country on the path of progress and prosperity.

“The state or the government no more asks you to restrict your children to a certain figure. But they do want the parents to plan the size of their families in such a way that each of their children gets his hands on proper food, education and healthcare facilities,” he said in his concluding speech as chief guest at an awareness seminar on family planning.

The seminar was organised for religious scholars and academics by the AJK population welfare department in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation & Coordination at Kashmir Institute of Management (KIM) Muzaffarabad.

The AJK minister said Iran and Bangladesh had successfully launched their family planning programmes with the help of religious scholars and the same cooperation was required in Pakistan and AJK for the collective good of society.

“This is the area where we need our religious scholars to guide people... They should educate people on injunctions in the Holy Quran that call upon mothers to suckle their babies for two years, at least,” he added.

The minister also expressed his gratitude to the UNFPA for resuming its operations in AJK and assured the audience that the AJK government would leave no stone unturned to ensure the health of mother and child.

Ealirer, Maulana Mahmoodul Hassan Ashraf, Mufti Farid Abbas Naqvi, Maulana Qari Ainul Yaqeen Wajid, AJK religious affairs department director Maulana Mufti Nazir Ahmed, Dr Bushra Shams, regional director AJK Extended Programme on Immunisation, and Qazi Ehsanul Haq, director population programme wing Islamabad also spoke on the subject.

Mr Naqvi pointed out that poor literacy rate was one of the factors behind unwieldy increase in population.

“But, in spite of this we spend too little on our education sector,” he regretted.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2019