ISLAMABAD: Expressing serious concern over the alarmingly high population growth rate in the country, the Supreme Court on Tuesday constituted a committee to be headed by Fawad Hasan Fawad, former principal secretary to the prime minister, to formulate a uniform policy to defuse the population bomb.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar also asked Mr Fawad in his capacity as director general of the Civil Services Academy to hold seminars, conduct research and study examples of other countries, which tackled the growing population issue, and submit a working paper within 15 days.

Likewise, the court ordered setting up of a special task force headed by Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan and comprising the federal secretary of population planning and officials of welfare departments of the four provinces to take up the issue separately. It is required to submit its recommendations within three weeks.

Committee head Fawad Hasan to submit working paper within 15 days

Taking suo motu notice of the unchecked population growth in the country, the Supreme Court said the policy so formulated would then be referred to the government that would take charge after the July 25 election for its consideration and implementation.

Earlier, Mr Fawad had offered to develop a population policy within four weeks and informed the court that the last government had issued letters to the provinces to highlight the alarming issue. However, he admitted the government’s failure to adopt a national policy on the population growth. He said the matter could be referred to the Council of Common Interests for a final policy decision by the government.

On a lighter note, the chief justice of Pakistan observed that in case the previous government again formed the next government after the elections, Mr Fawad would again be there in the government.

The CJP regretted that every child born was indebted as they carried a huge loan on their shoulders. Justice Nisar wondered why people were still debating the family planning in the context of religion. “What the nation has gotten itself into. Is the country capable of supporting seven children per family,” the chief justice wondered while expressing concern over the population growth rate.

During the proceedings, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, a member of the SC bench, observed that the Holy Quran also emphasised a gap between children.

The health secretary informed the court that the government did not have a monitoring system in place to regulate health centres or keep records of the population growth. He said Indonesia, a Muslim country, launched an awareness campaign in mosques to educate people about the importance of population control.

However, a representative of the Punjab population welfare department informed the court that during the period between 1970 and 1980, the population growth rate was 3.7 per cent, which fell to 2.4pc.

The chief justice then regretted that 2,100 welfare centres in Punjab had zero performance and plans were only on paper. The authorities must take immediate action to control population, he said, adding that the country did not have the resources to feed so many people.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018