On 3rd July 2026, the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives issued a notification that deserves more attention than it has received. The Prime Minister has constituted a National Population Council, chaired by himself, with the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces among its members, alongside the four provincial chief ministers, the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, and the federal ministers for planning, finance, health, education, law, information, and religious affairs. On paper, this is the most powerful gathering ever assembled around Pakistan's population question.

I have waited a long time for a notification like this. In December 2023, in these very pages, I wrote that Pakistan's population program was a tale of failure ("Pakistan's Population Program: A Tale Of Failure And Urgent Call To Action," The Friday Times, 18 December 2023, https://www.thefridaytimes.com/18-Dec-2023/pakistan-s-population-program-a-tale-of-failure-and-urgent-call-to-action).

One in six married women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy are still not using any method of contraception. That gap translates into millions of unsafe abortions every year and preventable maternal deaths.

One in six married women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy are still not using any........

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