Minister stresses devolution of power to improve governance

Ahsan Iqbal says UNFPA, Population Council report give direction for future challenges

ISLAMABAD:

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Wednesday that devolution of powers to lower levels was essential to improve the governance system and stressed that stability and policy continuity could remove impediments to the national growth.

Speaking at an event to launch the "Pakistan 2025" study, the minister stated that the report provided a detailed analysis of the recent census results, besides pointing out the challenges and presenting the suggestions related to overpopulation, according to a press release issued here.

"The entire province of Sindh cannot be run from Karachi and Punjab cannot be run from Lahore. Service delivery and key outcomes cannot be achieved without devolving authority to local governments," he said.

Iqbal said that the report launched by UNFPA and the Population Council gave direction along with the tools needed to solve forthcoming challenges related to the growing population of Pakistan. He stressed that debate on the problems of growing population was necessary.

He said that in the past, population growth was beneficial for the developing countries, but now it had become a problem due to lack of resources. He stressed that family planning, education and awareness must reach the smallest regions in Pakistan.

Talking about the percentage of employed women, the minister stated that in Pakistan, only 23% of women population was employed, compared to 50% in the developed countries. He also said that continuity of policies was mandatory to remove any impediments to growth.

UNFPA Regional Director Pio Smith; UNFPA Country Director Luay Shabaneh, UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan Muhammad Yahya; Population Council Country Director Zeba Sattar, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal, senior officials, academia, diplomats and development partners attended the event.