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LAHORE: One of the major reasons behind rapidly-spreading breast cancer among women is that they do not feed their infants for two years.

These views were expressed by a large number of religious scholars while speaking to the seminar titled “promotion of family planning by involving Imams and Khateebs” organised by the Population Welfare Department (PDW) at a local hotel on Tuesday.

Opening up the debate, Project Director Akhtar Mehmood disclosed that to spread awareness among the people about population control, the PDW has so far engaged over 1300 imams and khateebs from 10 villages where access to print, electronic and social media is limited.

He said that these villages include Attock, Chinot, DG Khan, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Kasur, Mianwali, Multan, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur. To make the initiative successful, the government is paying Rs 5,000 per month to each ulema or khateeb as stipend and in return they are bound to promote family planning methods in Juma sermons, religious events, public gatherings, home visits and provide marital counselling to couples “within a supportive religious framework”.

Provincial Population Welfare Minister Muhammad Hashim Dogar while speaking as the chief guest said the focus of ulema should not be on getting the stipend as creating awareness among the people about family planning and the health of mothers is a noble cause for which they all have to play a collective part.

He said his mission was not to convince people to have one, two or three child. “My point is people should opt for having children only if they can provide them a better living,” he asserted and claimed that some couples decide to have children just to throw them in child labour and most of them are sexually assaulted.

He said with the consent of Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi, the population department was planning to give the status of “religious teachers” to every imam and khateeb of mosques in Punjab besides increasing their stipend.

He said the biggest communication network in Punjab is of mosques and we cannot move towards prosperity unless the imams or khateebs of these mosques show “right path” to the people.

Allama Ali Hassan Rizvi, senior member of Kasur Peace Committee, claimed that they were not helping the PDW just to get any monetary benefit (Rs5000). “Instead, we are doing this noble work because Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had also guided people about it,” he added.

He said the role of ulema in creating awareness among the people about the population control is critical as they were the only one who can carry out this complicated task. He said if a mother feeds her infant for two years, it would not only limit the chances of mother to suffer from breast cancer but will also bring positive impacts on their lives.

According to Rizvi, the Almighty Allah in the Holy Quran has made it “mandatory” for a mother to feed her infant for two years, if not suffering from any medical conditions. He said the psyche of getting one after another child should be changed and the people must realize that a strong nation cannot be built without healthy mothers.

However, he criticized the population welfare department for its alleged failure to engage ulema and khateebs in a coordinated way for the cause. He suggested that if the government really wants to get desired positive results from the campaign then it should first constitute committees at district levels with representation of religious scholars of all schools of thought and seek guidelines from them.

Dispelling misconceptions about the family planning, noted religious scholar Maulana Hussain Akbar said that adopting contraceptive measures that do not affect the fertility of women were permitted in Islam. He said the main reason behind rapidly spreading breast cancer is that mothers do not feed their infants for two years because they want to be seen young.

However, coming down hard on the government for giving stipends to ulema, Maulana Hussain said they “rejected” such peanuts in the past and would do so in future as well. He said the government should focus on paying utility bills of mosques instead of offering them stipends.

He also complained that though the government wants ulema to play their part in critical family planning issue but yet it has not so far issued them health cards. He said they were too the citizens of Pakistan and they should also be provided same facilities like other people.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021

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