Bilawal says PPP will oppose changes to BISP

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari says the PPP will oppose any move to abolish or devolve the Benazir Income Support Programme. He says the party will seek higher BISP funding in the budget and warns that transferring it to provinces would effectively end it.

SKARDU: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Tuesday that the federal government was seeking to do away with the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and vowed that his party would resist any such move.

Addressing a public gathering in Skardu, Bilawal said it was regrettable that the country's rulers wanted to end the social protection programme launched under the PPP government. He said his party would protect the scheme and seek higher allocations for it during the budget process through talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

In his speech, Bilawal stated that the PPP would push for an increase in BISP funding when the federal budget is discussed. His remarks came against the backdrop of recent discussion within the government over possible changes to the structure of the programme.

Last month, Minister of State for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Kheal Das Kohistani said the government was considering transferring BISP to the provinces. In a conversation with reporters on May 8, Kohistani said the programme's complete abolition was not being considered.

Bilawal, however, warned that devolving BISP would in effect amount to ending it. Speaking at an election rally in Shigar on Monday, he said welfare responsibilities of this kind are handled by federal governments around the world.

"It is unfortunate that the rulers want to end the Benazir Income Support Programme. We will save the Benazir Income Support Programme," Bilawal said.

BISP and PPP's position

Launched in 2008, BISP is a poverty alleviation and social safety initiative that provides financial assistance to more than 10 million low-income families, particularly women. Bilawal said the programme had become a model that other countries wanted to follow.

He also said the PPP's politics differed from that of other parties because it focused on the welfare of ordinary people. Bilawal credited the party's leadership with introducing measures aimed at the welfare and empowerment of workers and farmers.

According to Bilawal, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had made farmers owners of land and workers owners of mills, while former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had created employment opportunities for the people.

Remarks on Gilgit-Baltistan and regional issues

Bilawal also spoke about Gilgit-Baltistan's constitutional and governance questions, saying many of the region's issues could be addressed by granting it powers similar to those given under the 18th Amendment. He added that the PPP leadership had previously introduced subsidies and reforms that benefited the people of the area.

Referring to the wider regional situation, Bilawal expressed hope that efforts by Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir to promote peace in the Middle East would succeed. He said Pakistanis were praying for those efforts to deliver results and described the country's peace initiatives as a matter of national pride.

Bilawal further said the Muslim world was carrying the burden of the war in the Middle East and that the conflict had added to the public's economic difficulties.