ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday targeted the government for changing the name of the Benazir Income Support Programme. 

Criticising the government, the PPP chief said so far Prime Minister Imran Khan had only changed the name of BISP for poverty alleviation.

He questioned Prime Minister Imran Khan what else he had done to reduce poverty in the country apart from changing BISP’s name which was launched by the PPP-led government almost a decade ago to help the poverty-stricken people of the country. 

“The people are well aware that much talked about Ehsaas Kafalat (support through care) Programme was actually the new name of BISP,” he added.

Bilawal said his party had launched the poverty alleviation programme when the entire world was confronted with the financial crisis. “Actually BISP was devised as per the vision of my mother, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto,” he said and claimed that by launching the programme, the PPP government had set a precedent for other countries to follow.

He added: “So much so that international organisations today acknowledge the significance of the BISP. Calling Ehsaas Kafalat Programme a new one even after admitting in the Supreme Court that name of the BISP had been changed is an attempt to deceive the people.”

Bilawal claimed that the last three years of the PTI government were marked by ‘economic catastrophe.’

He said the PPP-led government in Sindh not only imparted skills to millions of women of rural Sindh but also gave them interest-free loans so that they could start their businesses.

“The Sindh government through its pro-people policies has not only been able to increase per capita income above other constituent units of Pakistan but has also reduced the poverty rate by 7.6 per cent, which clearly demonstrates that PPP has delivered in the province,” he maintained.