The Punjab Assembly showed concern in its Friday session that the exponential population growth was a ticking time bomb for Pakistan and there was a dire need to control it through a robust strategy.
Provincial Population Welfare Minister Hashim Dogar stated to the house that the population of Punjab would reach 250 million by 2047 while the whole country’s population could exceed 500 million by the same year.
The minister was responding to the queries of lawmakers during the ‘question hour’ about the exponential population growth in the country.
The minister urged the house to craft a comprehensive policy in this regard.
In response to a supplementary question, the minister said that population was the biggest problem of Pakistan right now and unfortunately no government after Ayub Khan tried to address the issue seriously.
“The incumbent government is working on this subject with the help of 1400 religious clerics in the first phase,” the minister told the house.
He added that the people were being made aware about this issue, further requesting the chair to hold a comprehensive debate on this subject in the house.
The members of both the opposition and treasury must give their suggestions to help us to make a policy in this regard, the minister said.
He went on to say that Pakistan was the 12th largest country in terms of population and further projections were horrible.
Substantial resources would be required to give food, shelter and jobs to such a large population and it would be a huge task indeed, he added.
A member of the treasury bench hailing from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Ayesha Iqbal said that the population issue was a ticking time bomb and all must sit together to find a way-out.
PML-N MPA Begum Zakiya Shahnawaz said that nothing was impossible if we did our work sincerely and diligently. There was a time when Punjab was severely hit by the dengue virus but the then chief minister, Shehbaz Sharif, worked tirelessly to secure his people from the disease due to his hard work.
She was of the view that the issue of population growth must be fought on war footing by declaring an emergency in the country.
“There is no shortage of funds to control the population growth as a large number of non-government organizations (NGOs) are willing to provide funds in this regard,” said the PML-N lawmaker, while adding that the subject must be taken seriously.
