IT’S not often that I find myself supporting an initiative launched by Imran Khan. However, I am behind him all the way when it comes to his support for the anti-polio campaign.

In fact, I was deeply touched by a front-page photo of the politician in this newspaper as he held a child in his arms, and tenderly administered immunisation drops. Other politicians, irrespective of their differences with Imran Khan, need to rally around and show the Taliban that he is not alone.

On quite another front, I would like to record my support for another initiative launched by a much younger politician. Flipping channels, I recently came across Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari talking about the proposed Sindh culture festival.

Relaxed and fluent, Bilawal spoke about the degradation of our ancient archaeological heritage, and the need to honour our artisans and musicians. Over the years, I have watched how successive governments have neglected our rich historical and cultural inheritance: budgets have shrunk, and all culture-related activities marginalised by a benighted officialdom.

Welcome as both steps are, there is another area where I wish our politicians would take a stand. Over the last couple of decades, population has become the elephant in the room: while we are all aware of the problem, nobody wants to talk about it. But our silence hasn’t prevented our numbers from growing at a frightening clip. While other countries in the region, most notably Bangladesh, have controlled their growth rates, we in Pakistan no longer even discuss the issue. At least this is one problem we cannot blame on the CIA or RAW.

On the contrary, many clerics and sundry obscurantists accuse our enemies of promoting family planning as a means to reduce the number of Muslims. So by having large families, we foil these dastardly Western plots. We have been so successful that we have seen the number of happy Pakistanis grow from 32 million at Partition to over 200 million now.

Most of the problems we face today can be traced directly to the menace of our out-of-control population. Shortages of power, water and gas are caused by our ever-expanding population. Insufficient school places, bus seats and hospital beds are the result of sheer numbers.

Perhaps the biggest problem faced by most Pakistani families is unemployment. But to absorb the three million or so young Pakistanis entering the job market every year would need a far more robust economy than ours.

So our high crime rate should hardly shock or surprise us: there are hundreds of thousands of young kids with a smattering of education, no prospects and high aspirations roaming around with nothing to do. When they relieve their victims of their belongings on busy streets, they do so because they have few viable alternatives. Above all, there is virtually no deterrence to prevent them from a life of crime.

In some parts of the country, their lack of options takes them on the road to jihad. Increasingly, young men from urban Sindh and Punjab are rallying to the black banner of the Taliban. Of course factors other than unemployment are also filling the ranks of the jihadis, but lack of opportunities remains a key contributor.

Despite the clear linkages between population pressure, unemployment, shortages, crime and terrorism, governments from Zia’s dark days onwards have chosen to remain silent spectators. There was a time when there were TV campaigns and outreach programmes to encourage families to limit their size.

But our leaders have long decided not to take on the religious right on this issue, just as they have ducked fights over most other matters. The result of this abject surrender is visible in the form of ugly, unplanned urban growth, and a country teeming with poor, uneducated, ill-fed people the state cannot provide for.

There is a school of thought that views a large population as an asset, pointing to China as an example. The difference, however, lies in the quality of the manpower: in China, for all its faults, the Communist Party has focused on education and health. This has provided the foundation of the economic miracle we are witness to. In Pakistan, we have wilfully neglected the social infrastructure, so a large population does not translate into a healthy workforce, or a market for our products.

According to conservative projections, there will be around 300 million Pakistanis in 2050. Currently, nearly 40 million out of Pakistan’s 70 million youngsters between five and 19 are not going to school. I have been trotting similar figures out at regular intervals, but sadly, the subject is of no interest to either our politicians or most of our media.

Maybe Bilawal or Imran can add population to the worthy causes deserving their attention. But somehow, I doubt it.

irfan.husain@gmail.com