Daily Times

Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said that there will 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. Rs1,000 may not mean much to 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 BISP 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 see the prices of tomatoes and onions. But we have to see 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.