Federal Minister for Population Welfare Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain has said that the ministry had demanded Rs 15.370 billion budget for the fiscal year 2006-07.
He was addressing a press conference here on Wednesday after the follow-up Ulema Conference on the Islamabad Declaration on Population and Development (IDPD).
He said that the unanimous IDPD would be implemented in participant Muslim countries in accordance with the OIC charter.
The minister said that scholars of Muslim countries had approved a joint Plan of Action for the achievement of population control targets in their respective countries.
Shahbaz Hussain said that scholars of Muslim countries have shared their experiences and information regarding population welfare issues and would attain technical support through mutual co-operation. He said that Plan of Action had been approved unanimously.
The minister said that 22 scholars from 19 Muslim countries had attended the Conference and would help implement the recommendations in their countries according their social values.
He said that the ministry had trained 3,000 master trainers to provide training to Ulema all over the country.
Secretary MoPW Shehzadu Sheikh said that Islam provides solution to all problems and the ministry has made an effort to resolve population related issues in the light of the Holy Quran and Sunnah. He said that Ulema in Pakistan had stopped opposing population control programmes and they were now playing their role in bringing awareness among people regarding population issues.
The Plan of Action finalised after the Ulema conference envisioned peace, prosperity and improvement in the quality of life through education, enlightenment, empowerment of impoverished in the member Muslim countries.
The plan focuses on policies to manage population growth by investment in education and health for covering population momentum, investment in population control sector to maximise its productive potential.
It also aimed at integrating population issues arising from migration and globalisation, co-ordination in sectoral policies with MDGs, ICPD, IDPD to mainstream population issues into development process.
Primary goals of the Plan are eradication of extreme power and hunger, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction in child mortality in 19 Muslim countries. Improvement in maternal health prevention from HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and other diseases, environmental sustainability will be given priority in the plan.
The Plan will take into consideration the pragmatic interventions of International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
According to the Plan, achievement of reproductive health and family planning programmes has a vital factor to the achievement of the MDGs.
The Plan will focus on eradication of extreme poverty and hunger for which PRSP will address improvement of human development indices especially female based poverty, social uplift of poor and marginalised, reduction in proportion of people below poverty line. Besides micro-credit schemes, job opportunities, free education for poor, scholarship for youth, Islamic countries charity funds, Bait-ul-Mal, Zakat funds for poorest will also be dealt with.
It was recommended in Plan of Action that scholars of Muslim countries will devise methodology in formulation of National Council of Religious Scholars to advise and help in devising policies on population and development.
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