ISLAMABAD, 5 May 2005 — Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz yesterday asked Muslim clerics and scholars to tell Pakistanis that birth control is not against Islam, in a bid to help stabilize the nation’s spiraling population.
Aziz made the plea at a three-day international conference of Islamic scholars on “population issues” that opened here Wednesday and was attended by clerics from at least 29 Islamic countries.
Among the guests was Sheikh Saud Al-Shuraim, imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah.
Aziz said clerics should help the government in its goal of stabilizing the country’s population, which currently stands at 150 million and is growing at a rate of 1.9 percent a year. At that rate, it would double in 37 years.
“Population growth is the main impediment in the way of progress and prosperity of the people,” Aziz said.
He said there were different opinions on family planning, and although some clerics believe Islam does not permit contraception, others say it does not present a major obstacle to family planning.
“Some in the Islamic world believe Islam does not permit contraception but others disagree, “Aziz said.
“We wish to clear our thoughts and wish to know the right path,” he said. “We understand that Ulemas (religious scholars) ... of standing and repute can play a pivotal role in guiding us on the subject.”
In recent years, the government has provided more funding for family planning and promoted different methods of contraception. Contraceptive medicine and condoms are widely available in Pakistan, but hard-line clerics have condemned the campaigns as obscene and against Islam.
Aziz said the conference should help devise ways for the government to strengthen population control programs.
“Your presence in this conference strengthens my belief that with your support and patronage, population program activities, especially in the rural areas of the country, will gain the required momentum,” he said.
“We must remember that nothing can be sustained without economic stability and a manageable population size.”
“We realize that future population size, structure and growth have a direct bearing on our pace of development,” he added.
