Is it really a surprise that Pakistan is expected to see a 56pc increase in its population, to about 366 million individuals, by 2050? A recent United Nations (UN) report goes on to reveal that Pakistan is “one of the leading contributors” to global population growth, which is expected to reach eight billion by the end of 2022 and peak at 10.4 billion in 2080. This is very serious news and raises two extremely important questions. One, more people in the country means more pressure on resources. And when we’re struggling so badly to stay above water as it is, how is the country going to house, educate, treat, accommodate and gainfully employ this population explosion? And two, since this problem didn’t just crop up to surprise the government, and had been growing for a very, very long time, why hasn’t any government so far given it the attention it deserves? One big issue has been the influence of the far-right religious lobby, which for some reason tends to drag issues of family planning, etc, into the grey area of religious doctrine. But the answer, again, would be to erect an overarching national narrative that explains, among other things, just how and why it is not right to colour such issues in shades of religion. By most estimates now the problem is well and truly out of control. Be that as it may, the government of the day still bears the responsibility of acting upon the information it has received from the UN. President Alvi recently shared the Council of Common Interest’s (CCI’s) recommendations on the issue to mark World Population Day, but such things are merely exercises in political correctness, meant for nothing more than grabbing headlines. To make what little difference can still be made, the state must mobilise at once, gather politicians, academics and religious scholars, and instil in all people the ills and evils of over-population, besides creating a monitoring and evaluation mechanism to judge the outreach and success of the program. Then it must learn from the failures and build on the successes. Simply issuing pretty statements will not do any longer. *