Says 25pc amount under BISP being increased.

KARACHI     -   Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said that there would be an immediate increase of 25 percent in the stipend amount of Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). He said that the provision of relief money by the government of Sindh to the flood-affected small farmers will also be accelerated. 

He said that the politics of the PPP is based on bringing justice to the common man. Addressing the inau­guration ceremony of dynamic reg­istration of deserving women under BISP through NADRA, the Foreign Minister said that the concept of this revolutionary program was given by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in her manifesto looking at the pov­erty, inflation and economic crisis in the country. He said that the purpose of Benazir Income Support Program is to revolutionize the lives of the weakest women in the country.

Bilawal said that when this pro­gram was being launched, the coun­try’s bureaucracy, opposition pol­iticians and so-called intellectuals were against it. Before the start of the BISP, our opponents used to say that the people were being made beggars. Rs1000 may not mean much for many people, but the same 1000 rupees received under the Benazir Income Support Pro­gram can change the fortunes of a poor person, a child or a mother.

The Foreign Minister said that during his presidency, President Asif Ali Zardari fought against the entire system to implement the Benazir In­come Support Program and by hold­ing meetings every week in the Presi­dent’s House, the poor women across the country were given assistance money within a year. He said that they have made the BISP the most transparent institution. Internation­al organizations including the United Nations appreciate the BISP and its transparency. The PPP Chairman said that there are two types of political parties in the world. The first type of parties says that if the rich are made richer, they will provide employment to more people, while the second type of parties believe that no matter how much the rich are made richer, their scope for providing employment is still the same and limited. 

Bilawal said that he has noticed that the richer men are mostly mi­sers. He said that the BISP is not only runs a woman’s house, but also small businesses run along with it. Even today there is inflation, unem­ployment and economic crisis in the country. Under these circumstances, in the light of the PPP philosophy, the amount of Benazir Income Support Program as well as the number of beneficiaries should be increased as it is a comprehensive tool to reduce poverty in the country, he added. The PPP Chairman said that it is sad to point out that Imran Khan used to say during his tenure that he did not come to the government to check the prices of tomatoes and onions. But we have to check the prices of to­matoes and onions as well because we are in the government to give re­lief to the common man. Bilawal said that it is the result of the prayers of deserving women of Benazir Income Support Program that the conspira­tors against this program failed and this revolutionary program contin­ues. The Foreign Minister also ap­preciated the services of the German Ambassador regarding flood victims and BISP. The Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Federal Minis­ter for Poverty Alleviation and Chair­person BISP Shazia Atta Marri and others also spoke on occasion.