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PAKISTAN CAVES IN TO UNFPA POPULATION CONTROL PRESSURE

Monetary Pressure Forces Major Cultural Change



ISLAMABAD, Apr 25, 2001 (LSN.ca) - Money is being poured into Pakistan in order to encourage 'voluntary' population control. In a meeting Tuesday between Pakistani government representatives and the United Nations Population Fund, it was decided that the "country's population growth rate would be further brought down to 1.9 percent by the year 2003 from the existing 2.2 percent." The UNFPA promised another US $18 million to achieve the population "goal" after having already pumped in millions to suppress population growth.

Methods used by the programme to counter births include "creating awareness among the masses about the implications of high population" and "providing them quality reproductive health service, enhancing status of women, striving for gender equity and equality and achieving sustainable development." The story by the AP of Pakistan notes that foreign donors "appreciated the programme and assured of their continued support to help achieve the 1.9 percent target."

Last August, the Government of Pakistan rejected a UNFPA proposal to include lessons on the "benefits" of "small families" in the national education syllabus, but UNFPA threatened that the decision would cost the government $250 million. Following the threat, the Pakistan government promised to hold population control as a "national priority" as it thanked the UNFPA for a $35 million (US) funding agreement.

For related LifeSite coverage see: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/nov/0011293 .html

See the AP coverage: http://www.brecorder.com/story/000012/200104/20010425/200104...

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