ISLAMABAD – Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar stressed the need for implementation of a single birth-control policy across the country, observing that Pakistan was not resourceful enough to feed so many people.
During the hearing of a suo motu case pertaining to increasing population in the country, the top judge wondered whether the country was capable of supporting seven children per family.
“The rate at which the population is growing in the country is [no less than] a bomb,” remarked the judge while heading a three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench, comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.
Dishing in on Justice Nisar’s remark about whether birth control is allowed in religion or not, Justice Bandial said that there were relevant verses in the Holy Quran regarding a gap between children.
During the hearing, the health secretary told the court that the government did not have a monitoring system in place to regulate health centres or keep records of the growth in the country’s population.
He also cited the example of Indonesia, saying the authorities held an awareness campaign in mosques to educate the public about the importance of population control.
On the other hand, the representative from Punjab Population Welfare Department (PWD), however, argued that during the 1970-80s, the growth rate of population was 3.7 per cent, whereas now it had fallen to 2.4 per cent.
‘The government cannot stop anyone from having kids, said the official.
The CJP expressed that 2,100 welfare centres in Punjab had zero performance and plans were only on paper, demanding representatives from the Population Welfare Department to tell the court about the policies formed by the government to control population growth.
Expressing concern over the rising population, Justice Nisar said that the authorities need to take immediate action to control the situation. He also ordered all stakeholders of the case to submit recommendations to the court.
The judicial bigwig was also surprised over a debate regarding family planning and its connection to religion, inquiring “what the nation had gotten itself into”.
Let it be known that according to last year’s census provisional results, Pakistan has a population of 207.8 million, a 57 per cent increase since the last census in 1998.
