PRIME Minister Imran Khan deserves to be commended for his deft handling of foreign policy and his uncompromising campaign to expose the corrupt who had brought the country to near economic ruin. However, the canvas of his achievement would remain incomplete if he does not commence a national dialogue on population. In such a dialogue known experts and religious scholars should be asked to come up with their recommendations.

Population explosion poses an existential threat to the very wellbeing of the country. Millions of Pakistanis live below the poverty line, living a life without the basic needs like health, education and hygiene. The drift of the population from the rural to the urban areas is a disaster. The reason is obvious: the country just does not have the resources to look after its increasing populace. We need not look around and see what countries in the region have done and achieved.

Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country, made religious scholars partners in its campaign to arrest the burgeoning population. A dip in the population growth in China lifted the country’s economic growth, and results are all for us to see.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has a sense of history and should rise to the occasion. He has done so in the past and proved the sceptics wrong!

Shahid M G Kiani

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2019