Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has identified unchecked population growth as one of Pakistan”s most critical social and economic challenges, stating the country’s population would be nearly 100 million smaller today had it adopted policies similar to Bangladesh. He also made an urgent appeal to media organisations to dedicate 10 seconds of every news bulletin to messages encouraging polio immunisation.
The Chief Minister was addressing Waqfa – Tawazun Ke Liye, a programme at the Hindu Gymkhana, NAPA Auditorium, organised by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Foundation (MKRF) and Population Council Pakistan. The event on Friday launched a major social and behavioural change campaign focused on family planning, according to a statement issued from CM House today.
Recalling a historic turning point in 1971, Mr Shah highlighted the demographic shifts over the subsequent 54 years. He explained that at the time, Pakistan’s population was around 62 million, whereas today it has surged to 259 million.
In a stark comparison, he noted that while India’s population grew 2.7 times and Bangladesh’s 2.5 times in the same period, Pakistan”s population multiplied by a staggering 4.2 times.
‘We must ask ourselves what went wrong and why we failed to acknowledge our mistakes in time,’ the Chief Minister remarked, observing that if Pakistan had followed Bangladesh”s population growth trajectory, its current population would be approximately 155 million.
He lamented that family planning campaigns, such as the ‘Small family, prosperous family’ messages common in the 1970s, disappeared from public discourse during the subsequent martial law period under General Zia-ul-Haq, when the issue lost its priority.
‘Other countries took timely measures, knowing population growth would eventually become an economic burden, but unfortunately, we did not,’ he added.
Mr Shah credited former Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s Lady Health Workers Programme for effectively taking family planning awareness door-to-door, though he admitted that Pakistan still lags significantly behind other nations.
He firmly rejected the notion that family planning is a religious matter, citing low population growth rates in several Muslim countries. ‘Over the last decade, Saudi Arabia’s population growth remained at 1.22 per cent, Iran’s at 0.5 per cent, and Turkey’s at just 0.12 per cent,’ he stated.
The Chief Minister contrasted Pakistan”s contraceptive prevalence rate of 34 per cent with Bangladesh”s 62 per cent, attributing the latter”s success to a national consensus that declared population control an issue of “national survival.”
Turning to another pressing health crisis, CM Shah underscored that polio remains a major challenge, with Pakistan and Afghanistan being the only two countries where the disease is still endemic.
He announced an upcoming anti-polio campaign from 2 to 8 February and implored media owners to support the cause by broadcasting brief awareness messages. ‘I request that at least the first 10 seconds of every news bulletin be dedicated to the future of our children,’ he urged.
Mr Shah stressed that the powerful role of the media is crucial in guiding the public on welfare-oriented issues and called for a collective effort involving government bodies, NGOs like the Population Council, and foundations such as MKRF to steer the country towards socio-economic stability.