- Chief Justice Nisar says govt needs to realise seriousness of issue
- Fears the day when there ‘won’t be anything left to eat due to over-population’
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday said that it is important to raise public awareness about population growth, adding that a relevant legislation is required to control the “population bomb”.
Justice Nisar made the remarks while hearing a suo motu case regarding population growth in the country.
As the hearing went underway in the apex court, the attorney general (AG) informed the court that population control was assigned to the provinces after the 18th Amendment.
“One province has reservations over the formation of a ‘national policy’ on the matter,” the AG said.
The CJP added that these differences between the provinces can be solved and questioned whether the Sindh government realised the seriousness of the issue.
“The growing population is resulting in a shortage of resources and housing,” he said, while highlighting the same.
Talking about the role of women in population control, Chief Justice Nisar remarked that “women are used as a tool”, adding that they are “not provided with adequate birth control measures”.
He further observed that “without stemming population growth, the country’s development plans cannot succeed”, adding that “provinces need to follow a policy made at the federal level”.
Furthermore, Justice Umar Ata Bandiyal observed that “distributing pamphlets about the issue is not enough as people have to be made to understand the core of the matter and given an incentive”.
Noting that there are people who believe curbing population growth is against Islam, Justice Bandiyal remarked that the religion gives a very special place to family.
The chief justice remarked, “It will take five years to see the results of a policy, if it is implemented on today,” adding that, “there might come a day when there won’t be anything left to eat due to over-population”.
During the hearing, Pakistan People’s Party leader and former social welfare minister Shahnaz Wazir Ali informed the court that “one of the reasons for population growth is the early marriage age in the country”.
“The legal age for girls to marry should be 18 years,” Ali said, adding that “The Sindh government has made a policy on population control”.
As per provisional results the 2017 census, Pakistan’s population, barring that of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, stands at nearly 208 million.
