SC issues directives to suggest steps for controlling population growth

The Supreme Court Tuesday directed the federal and provincial governments to suggest steps for controlling population growth. While expressing dissatisfaction over the steps taken so far at the federal and provincial levels to check population growth, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said that ballooning population needed to be controlled on a war footing.
He said this while heading a three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan. The bench is hearing a suo motu case pertaining to increasing population in the country.
The court asked the authorities to take immediate action to control the burgeoning population. The Chief Justice regretted that plans for controlling the burgeoning population exist only on papers. He said the country required a unified policy to tackle the population challenge.
He directed all the stakeholders of the case to immediately submit recommendations regarding population control.
Expressing surprise over a debate on family planning and its connection with the religion, the Chief Justice wondered whether the country was capable of supporting seven children per family.
He said the rate at which the population was growing in the country was not less than a time bomb, adding there was not enough water and food for the children being born in the country. The Chief Justice further said the country had no resources to provide better education, health and other amenities to its population.
In his remarks about whether or not birth control was allowed in Islam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial said there were relevant verses in the Holy Quran regarding a gap between the children.
Appearing on notice, the Secretary Health apprised the court that there is no government's monitoring system in place to regulate the health centers or keep record of the growth of the country population.
He said in Indonesia, which was the largest Muslim population country in the world, the authorities ran awareness campaigns in mosques to sensitize and educate the people about the importance of population control. A representative of Punjab Population Welfare Department, however, argued that during 1970-80, the growth rate of population was reported at 3.7 percent, whereas 'now it has reduced to 2.4 percent'.
He was of the view that the government could not stop anyone from having kids. The Chief Justice noted that 2,100 welfare centers in Punjab had zero performance and plans for population control were only on papers.
To a query by the Chief Justice about the budget allocated to the welfare centers, the Punjab Deputy Secretary stated that in addition to Rs 3.6 billion that was provided by the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the department received around Rs 1.5 billion per annum.
The Chief Justice regretted that the Population Welfare Department was doing nothing to control the population growth and was just getting salaries without doing anything.
"The country does not have the resources to feed so many people who do nothing," the Chief Justice warned, adding that a unified policy must be implemented throughout the country regarding the control of population growth.
The Chief Justice said he would himself visit the health centers to inspect the available facilities there. He regretted that no serious step had been taken to raise awareness among masses on the matter.
The Additional Attorney General apprised the court that population was increasing at the rate of 2.4 percent. He said Pakistan was now fifth most populous country and the population will be double in the next three decades if the current trend of population growth persisted.
The provisional results of the 2017 population census show that Pakistan has a population of 207.8 million, showing 57 percent increase as compared to results of the last census carried out in 1998. The case was adjourned for two weeks.