I AM amazed to hear Prime Minister Imran Khan saying that we will face a huge gas shortage this winter and a bigger one year after this. Why? This is because of our unending population explosion.

No other country, apart from Afghanistan, faces what we are going through. Each year we have over four million added to our population. More housing and better infrastructure are required. Does the government have cash to pay for it?

In a larger context, I see our politics plagued by corruption. Why did the Pakistani rupee plummet from Rs98 to Rs168 to a US dollar? This is because of the flight of our rupee.

The government must know that years ago Chairman Mao said ‘one child, one family’, and the Indira Gandhi’s emergency rule in 1975 pushed millions of people into family planning.

A citizen
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2020