BADIN, April 6 Dr Attiya Inayatullah has said that the first three-years of Gen Musharraf's rule were better as compared to present rulers whose one-year rule had brought little progress and hope to people.

Dr Attiya who is president emeritus of the Rehnuma Family Planning Association of Pakistan (RFPA), and a well known figure with regard to family planning on national and international level said at a press conference at the Army Welfare Sugar Mill rest house on Sunday that in the present situation, which was headed for the worse, Choudhry Shujaat's formula for national government should be accepted to save the country.

She said that the country faced multiple challenges including the challenge from Taliban, which could not be controlled overnight nor any pressure could smash them.

It would be in the country's interest that all political parties joined hands with sincerity to address the situation, she said.

She said that Gen Musharraf was a faithful, sincere citizen of Pakistan and a brave man but it did not mean she wanted military rule back, she had always opposed Martial Law.

She said that the Rehnuma was providing Zakat facility to the poor and needy patients through its 11 hospitals including RFPA hospital in Badin.

Most pregnant mothers were found hepatitis positive carriers during seizure of childbirth, who required not only immediate care but also timely financial assistance to save their lives, she said.

She said that the association symbolised voluntary movement for reproductive health and population planning in Pakistan, seeking to attain a reduction in fertility through improvement in access to and quality of reproductive health services.

She said that family planning allowed women to delay motherhood, space births, prevent unsafe abortions, protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and stop child bearing when they had reached the desired family size.

She said that Rehnuma had been working in Badin for two decades and its primary catchment areas were Badin and secondary catchment areas were Umerkot, Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar.

She hailed the services of National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza for the welfare of Badin people and demanded that oil exploration companies, sugar mills and other multinational companies working in the district should be involved on priority basis under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) so that development could be carried out in the border district.

She said that RFPA had launched village-based programme of advocacy, women empowerment, poverty alleviation and prevention of unsafe abortion and series of activities that would include public awareness and person to person contacts at the village and union council levels.

She said that the aim could significantly be attained through raising female literacy rate and economic independence of women, which was in accordance with Islamic injunctions.

She said that RFPA had adopted a pragmatic religious and political approach with regard to population policy and family planning programme, which included providing better health services to the poor women in far-flung areas.

Dr Attiya Inayatullah has had a life-long association with the Family Planning Association of Pakistan. She has an international standing in the field and has remained a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO, as well as a leading member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Dr Attiya served as an adviser on Population Welfare to president Gen Ziaul Haq in the early 1980s.

She served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo as a Minister of State for Population Welfare and she was one of four civilian members of the National Security Council of Pakistan in 1999 and 2000 following military takeover by Gen Pervez Musharraf.