TOBA TEK SINGH: University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan says Pakistan is facing serious problems due to increasing population and shrinking resources as the country had to import food items worth more than 10 billion dollars last year, which is a matter of concern.

He was addressing a seminar held at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad in connection with the ‘world population week’ on Thursday.

Additional Deputy Commissioner General Qaiser Abbas Rind, former UAF Social Sciences Dean Dr Ashfaq Maan, District Population Officer Atif Ali, Deputy Population Officer Tayyaba Azam and Muhammad Aslam Saqib from the Auqaf Department also spoke.

The VC said the population of Bangladesh was higher than that of Pakistan but now the former had controlled it with effective strategies and support of religious circles. He urged the Ulema and opinion leaders to inform the people about the negative impact of increasing population and asked the Shariat court to play its role for the welfare of the country.

Qaiser Abbas Rind said that if the population of Pakistan continued growing at the current rate, it would double in the next 33 years. He said the public cooperation was imperative to control the rapid increase in population and fast increase in the population was swallowing up available resources at a high pace. He claimed that the district government was following comprehensive policies for the success of the population welfare programmes.

Dr Ashfaq Maan said the UAF said the problems like increasing food security and poverty could be reduced only by controlling population explosion.

TIKTOKER DIES: A girl died reportedly when the pistol she was holding to make a TikTok video went off during her sister’s wedding ceremony in Nadeem Park locality of Gojra.

Muhammad Shafiq told Gojra City police that his daughter, Anita, was making a TikTok video by holding the pistol in her hand when it suddenly went off. As a result, she was wounded and later died.

Her body was shifted to their native Chak 314/JB for burial but police reached there and took her body into custody to probe the incident.

Police claimed it’s not clear who had fired the shot that killed the girl.

ACCIDENT: A man died and five others were injured when a car collided with a roadside tree after hitting a motorcycle on Satiana-Jaranwala Road near Chak 35/GB in the Faisalabad area.

Rescue 1122 reported that all five car riders were a family belonging to Nankana Sahib. All of them and the motorcyclist were critically injured in the accident. They were shifted to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Faisalabad where one of the car riders, identified as Yasir Ahmad (35), succumbed to his injuries.

The injured car riders were identified as Mohsin Ali (30), his wife Shahnaz Bibi (28), son Abdullah (3) and sister Afia Bibi while the motorcyclist was identified as Saifur Rehman. All of them are stated to be in a serious condition.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2022