Zubair Qureshi
Pakistan’s national security is linked with human security and human development is not possible without dealing with high population growth rate.
The government is also aware of the impact of rapid population growth and is fully committed to making greater investments in critical areas of health and family planning, education, gainful employment and youth empowerment.
This was stated by Syed Shibli Faraz, Federal Minister of Science & Technology in his keynote remarks at the fourth meeting of the Parliamentary Forum on Population.
The minister emphasized that national security must be centered around human security because only then both ‘freedom from fear’ and ‘freedom from want’ can be ensured and it is in this context that unsustainable population becomes a threat to national security because it deprives people of equitable opportunities for accessing health, education, nutrition, gainful employment and leading a fulfilling life.
The forum’s meeting featured a plenary to discuss national security dimension of sustainable population growth.
Legislators both from the federal and provincial parliaments discussed ways to address population issues within political and national security ambit and focus on human security as a new priority area for national security.
Legislators declared 2022 to be the parliamentary year of population planning in which the legislators across all assemblies will work for prioritizing population management as way for achieving sustainable development.
Addressing the participants, Senator Mushahid Husain Sayed who is also the Secretary General of Parliamentary Forum on Population highlighted the need to re-envision Pakistan’s national security in the face of the high population growth in the country.
MNA Dr. Aisha Ghaus Pasha said greater investment in population welfare is important for Pakistan’s economic prosperity. Stressing for women empowerment that can potentially lead to a decline in fertility and improve maternal and child health, she said, “Smart investment in girls education, female labour force participation and integration of health and population welfare departments will enhance access to population welfare services and meet high unmet family planning need in the country.”
Elected members from the provincial assemblies of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP) shared latest developments on provincial population agenda.
