ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri has said that the government has closed no Langar Khana and ‘continue feeding the deserving”.
In an exclusive interview with Wenews, the federal minister said that during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, millions of legitimate beneficiaries were removed from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) list, and the then the government reaped their curses, and the programme was discredited.
Shelter homes and Langars not shut down’
When asked if the current government closed the Langar Khanas and shelter homes established during the tenure of former prime minister Imran Khan, Shazia Marri said: “The bread of any poor has not been stopped. Food is still available in these places. But now the difference is that the morsels of the poor are not being counted, and dramas in this regard have come to naught. Shelter homes continue to provide food to the deserving under the patronage of Bait-ul-Mal.”
She said that during the PTI government, no extra government assistance was provided to Langar Khanas and shelter homes, but the money was withdrawn from the fund set up in Baitul Mal for women and given to these Langar Khanas and shelter homes.
‘Why those excluded from BISP list made come back’
When asked why the current government included millions of people expelled from the BISP list during the previous government’s tenure, the federal minister said that “wrong propaganda was done against deserving people.”
She said that the previous government excluded 820,000 people from BISP and cried that they were not deserving, although they were not even given the right to appeal, nor were they told (about their exclusion).
“When we contacted the victims/, many deserving people came forward who had been ill-treated. A woman (excluded from the BISP list) had six children, including a disabled one, and her husband had left her and she had no one to help her.”
Shazia Marri said that the previous government and senior officials of NADRA developed such filters that even the most deserving people left out. “For example, if someone’s (utility) bill was above Rs1,000, or someone had obtained an identity card by paying an urgent fee, or applied for an urgent passport or went abroad, (they were excluded through the filter.)
She said there was also a filter that if someone’s mobile phone bill was more than Rs1,000, they were not considered deserving.
“It was not investigated whether these women had, actually, obtained SIMS on their names or if many people who had gone to Umrah on someone’s charity were deserving or not. People send their domestic workers on Umrah. Similarly, a woman had obtained an urgent CNIC just to receive BISP money but was left out of the list of deserving people due to filters.”
She said that now the government has removed unnecessary filters (introduced to determine the deserving people) which removed people from the list on the basis of urgent identity cards or mobile phone bills.
‘Why govt officials included in BISP list’
She clarified that no one has ever been included in the programme through fraud, nor will it ever be done. “This programme has been scientifically designed, but attempts were made to discredit the programme.”
Answering a question about whether names of government officials have also been included in the BISP list, the federal minister said that many poor government employees were included in the list because, at the time of the survey, their total assets were asked and not their jobs.
Many government employees meet the criteria of the BISP and a wrong impression was portrayed about their inclusion in the list. But if the names of officers of high grades were on the list, it was wrong and should not happen.
‘Govt making efforts to alleviate poverty’
Referring to the government’s efforts to eradicate poverty in the country, Shazia Marri said that the current government had paid cash of Rs25,000 to each flood-affected family under BISP.
“During our tenure, 33 million people were displaced by floods, which is more than the total population of several countries, including four million children and more than 600,000 pregnant women.”
After this, she said, owing to the efforts of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, the international community got mobilized, and the UN Secretary-General also visited Pakistan and assistance for the country was announced at international forums.
She said that poverty was a big problem in Pakistan and the BISP was launched in 2008 during the PPP regime when the world was going through a global recession. She said that BISP has been appreciated globally.
What is the future of current govt?
When asked about the future of the current dispensation, the federal minister said that the present government was constantly trying to overcome several challenges and the parties involved in it have forgotten the differences of the past and have united for (the sake) of the country.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has come to power with a spirit of service. This is not time for us to enjoy the government, but at the moment, we are surrounded by many problems.”
The minister said that the general election would be held according to the timeline fixed according to the constitution.
