ISLAMABAD: Balanced population growth is critical for Pakistan to achieve sustainable development and put the country on the path to progress, panellists said at a discussion on Thursday.

The discussion was organised by the Population Council on the inaugural day of the 20th Annual Population Research Conference of the Population Association of Pakistan.

A new narrative on population based on promoting a rights-based approach, developed by the Population Council through a consultative process, was introduced.

According to the new narrative, parents have the right to freely and responsibly decide the number and spacing of children to be able to fulfil the fundamental rights of their children by maintain a balance between family size and resources.

The government and society have a responsibility to facilitate people to achieve this balance by providing universal access to family planning information and services, thereby achieving sustainable development.

Addressing participants, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Health Dr Zafar Mirza endorsed the national narrative on population and highlighted the importance of creating a balance between population size and resources.

Reaffirming the government’s role in providing quality family planning services to citizens, Dr Mirza said the ministry has piloted a model community welfare centre in Islamabad which will provide comprehensive family planning and health services to communities.

“The government is providing modern contraceptives through its service delivery network across Pakistan. I urge the provincial and regional governments to integrate family planning services with health services to improve overall quality of life for our people,” he said.

The talk hosted a panel of parliamentarians, senators, civil society and media on the population narrative and the impact of rapid population growth on development.

Former senator Farhatullah Babar, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Senator Mian Mohammad Ateeq Shaikh, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Development and Reform Kanwal Shauzab, journalist Mohammad Malick and youth representative Ali Moeen Nawazish took part in the discussion.

Mr Babar lauded the new narrative and assured the PPP’s support for the new narrative besides unconditional support for any legislation on these issues in parliament.

Senator Syed from the PML said that there has been lack of political commitment on the issue of population in Pakistan. Even though there is an overall consensus across party lines on this issue, there is a need to show collective will through supportive legislation to promote family planning.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Senator Shaikh highlighted the challenges due to ever-increasing population in the urban areas of Sindh and emphasised the need for better urban planning besides sustainable population growth.

He also emphasized the need to following in the footsteps of other Muslim countries such as Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh as far as population planning is concerned.

Kanwal Shauzab welcomed the new narrative on population and apprised the audience on steps taken by the government to achieve the goal of sustainable population growth.

Mr Malick called for a forging alliance between media and organisations working on population and family planning issues. He said that in the race for higher ratings, the media tends to ignore issues like population and family planning.

Highlighting the impact of fast population growth, Ali Moeen Nawazish stressed on developing awareness campaigns for the youth on family planning and cross-sectoral impact of population growth on national life.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2019