SC directs govt, civil society to tackle population growth

ISLAMABAD: Terming the country’s booming population a “bomb,” the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government, civil society and religious scholars to take measures to control rapid population growth.

An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar announced its verdict in a suo motu case pertaining to the unchecked population growth in the country.

“The growing population is putting a strain on the country’s resources,” the bench observed, stressing the need for a countrywide campaign to combat it. “This is the question of future generations. The entire nation will have to work together for family planning and wage a war against the population growth.”

A day earlier, the apex court inquired about the credibility of population surveys and said any plan would go in vain if survey statistics were not accurate.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said the population situation would be serious if the government didn’t implement recommendations of the task force, formed with a task assigned to control rapid population growth.

The apex court was told by the secretary health that the first population control target would be met by 2025, while the second in 2030. He said the population growth rate ratio, following government measures, would be 1.5% in 2025 while five years later it would reach 1.4%.

To which, the CJP asked the secretary to shed light on credibility of population surveys and censuses. “How much credible these survey actually are?” he questioned.

Justice Nisar told the secretary to convey to the government that consequences of overpopulation would be ‘disastrous’ in the future. A time will come when a gap between resources and requirements would be too widened to fix.

He said the court would keep check on implementation on the recommendations of the task force.

On Nov 20 last year, the Centre and the provinces, or orders of the apex court, decided to form task forces within their jurisdictions to control rapid population growth.

The SC in June said the formulated policy would then be referred to the government that would take charge after the July 25 election for its consideration and implementation.

The apex court, the same month, had constituted a committee to formulate a uniform policy to defuse the population bomb.