Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday underscored the necessity of maintaining equilibrium between population growth and available resources for sustainable development, warning that rapid population increase is straining national resources and impeding the country's progress.
High-Level Meeting on Population Welfare
Chairing a high-level meeting on population welfare, the premier stated that population planning must be aligned with national development, economic stability, and the improvement of human resources, according to a press release from the Prime Minister's Office Media Wing (PMO). He directed authorities to convene the inaugural meeting of the National Population Council at the earliest and instructed that its organizational structure be finalized without delay to facilitate effective policymaking on population-related issues.
The meeting was attended by Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani, and senior government officials.
Prime Minister to Chair National Population Council
The prime minister announced that he would personally chair the National Population Council, which would comprise the chief ministers of all four provinces, the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, and other key stakeholders.
During the meeting, participants were briefed on the country's rising population and measures aimed at population control and welfare. The briefing highlighted plans to link social protection programmes with family planning initiatives while emphasizing that women's education and economic empowerment would form a key pillar of the national population strategy.
Awareness Campaign and International Examples
The meeting's participants were also informed that a nationwide public awareness campaign would be launched to promote balanced population growth and family planning. Participants were further apprised that successful population management programmes are currently being implemented in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Iran.
According to the PMO, the National Population Council, in collaboration with provincial governments, would help implement an effective nationwide population welfare campaign. It was further informed that the Council's Secretariat would be established in the Ministry of Planning.
