ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Pakistani discourses on population and development from 1947-1989. It presents the influence of various change agents over national debate, and the impact of these on Pakistani norms, policies, and programs. The rightful place of Islam in Pakistan has been constantly and consistently debated, questioned, politicised and reformulated, and has served as a politically and socially divisive issue throughout. Population and family planning likewise featured as consistent Pakistani concerns, having been embedded in the consciousness of the elite and middle class through experiences in pre-partition India. Strategic pro-natalism remains central to the Jamaat-i-Islami's critique of population control. The Indian debate was sparked by domestic neo-Malthusian leagues, established post World War One, and led to the subsequent establishment of the world's first government sponsored family planning program in Mysore state in 1930. A population policy, however, must take into account many implications of population growth for other aspects of planning.
