ISLAMABAD: Renowned religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamil on Wednesday appreciated Prime Minister Imran Khan’s stance to change the country into a model welfare state like that of Medina.
While addressing a symposium hosted in Supreme Court (SC) on population control, Jamil said that PM Khan is the first leader who announced to organise Pakistan like the welfare state of Medina.
He asserted that the major reasons behind increasing population are ignorance and poverty, besides social pressure, a private news channel reported.
Jamil said that good and bad intentions of the leaders affect the country. “The main ingredients of a welfare state are justice, action and economy,” he explained.
PM Khan and Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar also attended the symposium.
According to details, matters regarding the new demographic realities of Pakistan, family planning, mother and child’s health and advocacy campaign for population planning in the country were discussed in the event.
Ministry of National Health Services Secretary Zahid Saeed, in his address, said that the chief justice has called the rise in population a matter of human rights. He said if the population continues to rise at the existing rate, it will become double in thirty years’ time.
The secretary said a number of meetings were held on the issue and the provinces have also given their recommendations on controlling the population. He said the Prime Minister called meeting of Council of Common Interest on this issue in which all recommendations were approved with consensus.
He said Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and the main reasons of this alarming increase are lack of awareness and no clear policy on this issue.