ISLAMABAD — After failing to control population surge over the last three years, the federal government has inducted Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir into a newly formed apex committee to drive national population management.
The strategic move was disclosed on Thursday by Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal during a high-profile joint huddle of the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services and the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights. Jointly chaired by Senators Amir Waliuddin Chishti and Samina Mumtaz Zehri, the lawmakers met to address the critical resource strain facing the country, which is currently the fifth most populous nation and projected to surpass Indonesia by 2030.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chairs a meeting on population welfare in Islamabad, #Pakistan
Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), HJ, #COAS & CDF, and Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik, Pakistan’s National Security Advisor (NSA) and DG ISI attend the important… pic.twitter.com/vqhxtORX8y
— Pakistan Armed Forces News 🇵🇰 (@PakistanFauj) June 30, 2026
Key Committee Framework
- Apex Membership: Formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the high-level committee comprises Field Marshal Asim Munir, alongside the federal ministers for finance and planning.
- NFC Formula Overhaul: The health ministry proposed slicing the National Finance Commission (NFC) population-based fund allocation from 82% down to 50% to stop inadvertently rewarding provinces for higher birth rates.
- Supply Chain Interventions: The federal government announced complete tax exemptions on contraceptive products to bridge severe supply shortages, aiming to lower the annual birth pool by up to 1.5 million.
Constitutional Bottlenecks Over Devolution Slow Reforms
Despite the high-level urgency, the initiative faces severe structural friction. Law Ministry representatives explicitly briefed the Senate committee that following the 18th Constitutional Amendment, population welfare remains an exclusively devolved provincial subject. Because the federal parliament lacks the constitutional authority to mandate or enforce reproductive healthcare legislation on provincial governments, the committee directed the Law Ministry, parliamentary bodies, and religious scholars to construct a unified, consensus-based strategy.
Senate Demands Probe Into Balochistan Nursing Fund Fraud
In a separate development during the joint session, Senator Jan Mohammad raised serious allegations regarding a federal scholarship program meant for Balochistan. The lawmaker revealed that 47 nursing students from the province were brought to Islamabad under a World Bank-funded project worth Rs36 million, only to discover after two years that the nursing degree program did not exist and their diplomas were entirely unrecognized by the Pakistan Nursing Council. Minister Kamal labeled the oversight an injustice to Balochistan and vowed to completely resolve the academic discrepancy within one week.
