Population control vital for socio-economic development: Ambassador Manzoorul Haq

PESHAWAR, February 15: Former Ambassador, ManzoorulHaq here Tuesday said population control had always been a big challenge for developing countries like Pakistan and underscored the need for creating balance between population and the country’s resources to provide quality services to people.
“Unbridled growing trajectory in the country’s population graph is moving at fast pace, exerting an extra pressure on education, health, food, infrastructure among other socioeconomic sectors, which has become one of the main factors for deprivation of citizens of quality services besides undermining the economic growth and industrial development,” ambassador ManzoorulHaq observed while talking to APP on Tuesday.
“At the time of Pakistan’s independence, our population was only 30 million that has now swelled to over 220 million with a record seven times increase during the last 74 years.” Every year, he said, five million people are being added in the country with a substantial two percent growth rate, fearing that such unbridled population pace would further widen the gap between the country’s resources and the number of people besides encouraging corruption and nepotism in society.
Manzoor claimed that the country’s population would be further doubled in less than 30 years if the existing growth continued with such alarming speed,” ManzooulHaq who served Pakistan’s ambassador at Saudia Arabia and Egypt said.
Pakistan is the fifth most populous and 33rd largest country in the world where most of the population is living below poverty line with having less than two dollars per head spending and around two million children are out of schools due to socioeconomic imbalances, he maintained.
Civic facilities including colleges, universities, educational institutions, transports and other essential services are being overburdened in cities due to increased migration of people from rural areas for better services and if such trends continue, would create scores of social and economic problems in future.
Ambassador Manzoor said youth who constituted over sixty percent of the country’s total population having below 30 years age, are considered precious assets of Pakistan and can bring laurels to the nation after providing quality education, science and technology and jobs as per their qualification.
Manzoor said China had adopted a ‘one child for one family’ planning policy and later relaxed it in the contest of its social scenario. Underscoring the need for effective planning to control population, Ambassador Manzoor maintained that no development project would be fruitful in future unless it was based on estimates of population. – PR