Twirp: Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Rep Pakistan 4

[Naresh]

<b>Population explosion creating resource gap</b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<b>LAHORE : Poverty, unemployment and hunger are breeding terrorism and to get rid of this menace, the government will have to focus on these issues which have a direct relation with fast increasing population.</b>

Federal Minister for Population Welfare Firdous Ashiq Awan stated this while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday.

<b>She said population explosion was the biggest challenge of the day as it was creating a resource gap and the Ministry of Population Welfare in consultation with the Ulema was evolving a roadmap to cut the fast growing graph of population.</b>

She admitted that the role of parliamentarians was not up to the mark and there was a need of their capacity building so that they could be able to play their role in strengthening institutions which was a prerequisite to progress and prosperity.

Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Mian Muzaffar Ali said rising population was the single greatest obstacle to economic and social advancement of the people.

<b>He said the recent United Nations prediction that the population of Pakistan would double by 2050 was a matter of grave concern as that would put incredible strain on the economy and ultimately on the government.</b>

He said the ongoing economic crisis in the country could be resolved through collective efforts by health experts, community leaders, politicians and religious leaders.

The challenging task of achieving women’s empowerment meant supporting women so that they could enjoy their rights from socio-economic development. Despite some success, progress towards that goal still lagged behind. “The sad truth remains that 70 per cent of the 130 million children who are out of schools are girls,” he said.

<b>“Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and fourth in Asia. Pakistan with 170 million people has been experiencing annual population growth of 2.3 per cent, higher than regional countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.</b>

“The population of Nepal grows by 2 per cent annually, India 1.4 per cent, Bangladesh 1 per cent and Sri Lanka 0.4 per cent.”

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->