Daily Times

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday urged the stakeholders to invest in empowering communities by building their capacity through better health and educational facilities and ensuring an enabling environment to unlock their potential.

In his message on World Population Day globally marked on Tuesday, the moment draws attention to the vast disparity between the requirements of increasing population and the availability of resources.

Also, he said, it highlights the need for affirmative policy actions to empower our communities and the people. PM Sharif said population remains at the heart of effective national planning. He said for developing countries in particular, managing population growth is key to socioeconomic development. He said no country, howsoever resourceful, can deal with the population explosion.

“Thus drawing a balance between population and resources is fundamental to the fulfilment of the needs of teeming millions,” he said.

This year’s theme ‘Unleashing the power of gender equality’ is a powerful reminder of the imperative to empower our women, girls and men and end discrimination.

“Their mainstreaming in the national life will automatically help in achieving the development goals and increasing human productivity,” he said.

The prime minister said gender equality was not just a human rights issue, but also an economic requirement.

“The idea of balanced development is grounded in the empowerment of communities, who are enabled in not only fulfilling their aspirations of a meaningful life but also becoming a shareholder in the process of development of their societies,” he said.

He mentioned the significance of the multifarious factors such as climate change, geostrategic upheavals and dysfunction of markets, the countries are finding it hard to stay on course for achieving Millennium Development Goals.

Add to this mix the issue of gender inequality and discrimination and humanity gets farther from Sustainable Development Goals, he said.

The prime minister said the concept of development was not abstract but rooted in the welfare of the people.

“Hence all the more reason to invest in effective communication between the policymakers and the people at large for better outcomes,” he said. “We need to demonstrate greater political will to deal with the challenge.”

Meanwhile, Shehbaz Sharif appreciated the performance and role of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in strengthening the country’s solidarity, sovereignty and thwarting threats posed by local and foreign elements.

The prime minister expressed these views during a meeting with IB Director General Fawad Asadullah Khan who presented a one-year performance report of the Bureau, the PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.

He expressed his satisfaction over the performance of the IB and observed that it had played a very critical role in national solidarity and safeguarding its sovereignty. The prime minister said that he had tasked the IB with additional tasks after assuming his office and the Bureau had achieved them successfully.

It also played an effective role in rooting out criminal activities and performed well in the anti-terrorism efforts, he said, adding the IB’s role was also excellent with regard to gleaning of timely information, leading to correct decisions. He said the nation felt pride over the sacrifices of its Shuhada who embraced martyrdom for the security and defence of the country.

The prime minister lauded professional ability of the DG IB and his efforts to further improve the Bureau, and also commended the role and performance of IB officers and staff.

The DG IB expressed his gratitude to the prime minister for reposing confidence in the Bureau and his support.

The IB has been the oldest and the prime civilian intelligence agency of Pakistan.