Increase In Population To Pose Challenge To Socioeconomic Conditions: AJK Minister

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Population Welfare Dr. Mustafa Bashir Abbasi Tuesday said that alarming increase in population will pose a major challenge to the socioeconomic conditions of the country

MIRPUR [AJK]: (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2019 ) :Azad Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Population Welfare Dr. Mustafa Bashir Abbasi Tuesday said that alarming increase in population will pose a major challenge to the socioeconomic conditions of the country.

He was addressing a (Awareness) seminar of " Ulema and Academia on family Planning" held in the State's metropolis.

The seminar was arranged by Population Welfare Department in collaboration with The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Federal Ministry for Health, Islamabad.

Dr. Mustafa Bashir informed that population growth which now stands at 207.8 million will be doubled by next thirty years.

He said the ratio of other countries of South Asia in terms of population growth will take sixty years to double.

The Minister said according to statistics, the population of Pakistan will be 285 million by 2030. Such speedy population growth will become main impediment in the way of social and economic development of the country.

He stressed the need for the policy makers and implementers to overcome this major challenge of population growth in the larger interest of the public.

He referred to the brotherly Islamic countries Iran and Bangladesh where population had been controlled to a great extent and the role of Ulema in that regard was very commendable. We need to remove misunderstandings about contraceptives, he added.

Dr. Mustafa Bashir informed the participants of the seminar that Supreme Court of Pakistan had also taken serious notice of the alarming population growth rate. In light of the Supreme Court observation, task force at provincial and federal level had been constituted to monitor the situation regularly.

The Minister thanked UNFPA and Federal Ministry for Health to promote its population welfare activities in Azad Kashmir.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Population Welfare Raja Razzaque Khan said by population welfare we means to provide better education, employment, health, accommodation and recreational facilities to the people. This dream could only be materialized when there would be a proper balance between resources and population.

Other speakers also highlighted various aspects of population growth and its direct connection with socioeconomic development of the country.

They correlated population control with injunctions of the holy Quran and Sunnah.

Director General Kashmir Institute of Management (KIM) Brig. (R) Syed Akhtar Hussain Shah, Director Population Welfare Islamabad Ahsan ul Haq, Director EPI Dr. Bushra Shams and ullema Fareed Abbas, Mufti Nazir, Moulana Ain ul Qain Wajid and Allama Mehmood ul Hassan also spoke on the occasion.

At the end, certificates were distributed among the participants and special prayers offered for the Kashmiri martyrs.