AJK Devises Population Management Plan To Bring It To Sustainable Level: Minister

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Minister for Population Welfare Sardar Muhammad Hussain Khan Monday said alarming population growth in Pakistan and AJK has emerged as one of the most complicated challenge for the governments

MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Nov, 2021 ) : Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Minister for Population Welfare Sardar Muhammad Hussain Khan Monday said alarming population growth in Pakistan and AJK has emerged as one of the most complicated challenge for the governments.

He said the PTI-led AJK government, which gives high priority to population management and bring it to a sustainable level through devising an integrated plan to this direction.

He was speaking at a Seminar as a chief guest, hosted by the AJK Population Welfare Department in the State metropolis especially for the AJK Ministers and newly-elected Members of the Legislative Assembly of AJK to apprise them of "the Challenges of rapid population Growth in Pakistan / AJK and progress against Council of Common Interest (CCI) approved recommended dated November 19, 2021 to address the challenge." While welcoming the newly elected AJK law makers, the AJK population welfare minister asked the audience to put their weight to resolve this national challenge by embedding it into a policy resolve.

The AJK government, Hussain said, will provide all support and resources to address this challenge on high priority. The CCI Approved recommendation to address the challenge are comprehensive and carries the force of the directives of Supreme Court of Pakistan.

On the directive of AJK Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, the meeting of AJK Population Task Force will be held on Tuesday and in consultation with all stakeholders will discuss the policy contours to address the Challenge, he added.

The minister especially thanked United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pakistan and Rahnuma - Family Planning of Pakistan (R-FPAP) for their partnership for this national cause.

Earlier, Syed Kamal Shah, Chief Executive Officer, (R-FPAP), gave a comprehensive briefing on the objective of the project and status of CCI Approved Recommendations in Pakistan/AJK and drew a comparative analysis of the achievements and way forward. He highlighted that the main objective of the project was to engage the potential candidates during General Election-2021 of AJK and to sensitize the potential candidates on the challenge of alarming population growth and its crosscutting repercussions.

This is the post election conference aimed at apprising the policy makers on the gravity of the challenge and to acquire their support in national interest for policy formulation. He further said that prior to launching this project, the AJK Election Commission was also taken onboard and Election Commission was very kind to appreciate the role of R-FPAP in disseminating the challenge and critical implications to potential policy makers as part of pre-election activity.

He further added that the project has yielded the desired results and we have succeeded in disseminating the challenge and its way forward successfully and this all was not possible without the support of AJK Government.

Dr. Jamil Ahmed Ch. Program Specialist SRH, UNFPA Pakistan, shed light on the UNFPA's strategic partnership with Federal, provincial and regional Governments in implementation of CCI Approved Recommendations and other related area like policy formulation, capacity building, service delivery etc. UNFPA is humbled to support the Governments and civil society organisations to address the challenge of rapid population growth in Pakistan, he said.

Raja M. Razzaq, Retired Secretary to the Govt. of AJK and sitting Project consultant, Rahnuma - Family Planning of Pakistan, also made a comprehensive presentation on the Challenge of rapid population growth in Pakistan / AJK and its crosscutting repercussions and way forward. He while referring to AJK specific challenges underlined that AJK is a small State with an area comprising 13,297 sq. km while its projected population is 4.3 M with 51% women populace. Population density is 314 persons per sq km as against 272.03 per sq km in Pakistan.

However, hilly terrain, sparsely spread population and low capacity to implement Population/Family Planning Program could be attributed towardsLow CPR (contraceptive prevalence rate),High unmet need (22%); and high total fertility rate (3.5)Besides, low accessibility of family planning and reproductive health services is also a challenging area for AJK. At the same time while referring to the strengths he quoted that AJK has tremendous potential to lower the population growth rate based on high literacy rate 76.8%(86.9% male while 67.3% among female) and educational attainment level of population.

This particular aspect is surely missed opportunity in AJK but the missing link is that this important opportunity has not been availed, he said. While concluding he also shared the roadmap for improving service delivery in the area of family planning and reproductive health in AJK. Besides, he equally emphasized on the commitments made by Govt. of Pakistan at various international forums which are required to be implemented by embedding these commitments into a specific policy vision.

Minister for Health AJK Mr. Nisar Ansar Abdali, Secretary Health AJK Maj Gen Ahsen Altaf Sati and Secretary AJK Population Welfare Department also spoke at the occasion and highlighted the challenge and expressed resolve to address it as enunciated by CCI Recommendations.

The Members of AJK Legislative Assembly took keen interest in the proceedings and most of them also join the session through video link. Ch. Latif Akbar, leader of the opposition, appreciated the approach and asked the Government for taking this challenge seriously.

Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore while speaking at the occasion highlighted that PPP attaches high priority to Population Management. He while recalling Late Benazir Bhutto Shaheed participation in "International Conference on Population and Development held at Cairo, 5-13 September 1994,said that she while realising the gravity of the challenge of alarming population in Pakistan, herself as Prime Minister of Pakistan led the delegation. She always boldly talked for giving Women Empowerment through family planning for a healthy nation when non other was talking on this subject. Our leader Benazir Bhutto Shaheed was a champion of Women empowerment, and women health by reducing Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and Infant Mortality Ratio (IMR) which is only possible through a meaningful and structured family planning and reproductive health system to be embedded in policy framework. "Therefore, the areas related to Population management, reproductive health and women empowerment are very close to our heart" he said. He suggested the Govt. four points action plan: No. 1. Govt. must accord the highest priority to this sector and required financial allocations along with a comprehensive monitoring system to ensure smooth progress and accountability, must be launched forthwith.No. 2. CCI Approved Recommendation dated 19. 11. 2018, as are presented today, must be implemented in letter and spirit. While looking at the present status of CCI Recommendations in AJK, it highlights a bleak picture which must be implemented with a clear and high resolve. And I shall suggest that Govt. must form a "Legislature Oversight Committee" to monitor and review the progress on CCI Approved Recommendations which too has the backing of Supreme Court of Pakistan. No. 3. Govt. must bring the necessary Legislative Bills i.e. "Reproductive Health and Rights Bill" as Sindh and KP had already promulgated this legislation. No. 4. Govt. must hold a comparative study that how brother Muslim Countries like Bangladesh, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and other Muslim countries have managed their population as per their resources. UNFPA and other International Development Partners may come forward with more generosity through their technical assistance to support the cause of Family Planning and reproductive health in AJK.

He also indicated that PPP legislatures with the consultation of Leadership may opt to move a resolution in the Assembly to discuss this "Growing Challenge" in the Assembly as it has apparently turned to a Non-Conventional threat for the motherland as well as AJK. Ms. Nabeela Ayub stated.

Dr. Rashida Panezai President R-FPAP and Dr. Sabina Durrani Director General, Population program wing, Ministry of National Health services regulation & Coordination, Govt. of Pakistan, also spoke at the seminar and expressed their gratitude to Govt. of AJK for supporting such an important activity and showing resolve to address the challenge by evolving a multi dimensional approach.

Kh. Farooq Ahmed Minister for local govt. & rural development, Ch. Latif Akbar, leader of opposition, Ms. Nabila Ayub, MLA PPP, Devan Ali Chugtai Minister for Elementary n Secondary, Ms. Sabina Durrani, Director General, Population Program Wing, Ministry of National Health Services Regulation & Coordination, Maj Gen Ahsen Altaf, Secretary Health, Ataullah Ata, Secretary Population Welfare, and various other MLAs, also spoke on the occasion.