JI chief describes BISP as ‘a complete fraud’: chairperson seeks apology

ISLAMABAD: Faced with the federal government’s reported reluctance in involving the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in support of flood victims, the BISP Chairperson and PPP Senator Rubina Khalid has sought an apology from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman over calling BISP “a complete fraud.”

“A political leader has stated that BISP is a fraud — this is an inappropriate statement — this leader has insulted 10 million families and he should apologise over this statement,” she said this while addressing a presser here on Tuesday.

Although, Khalid did not name anyone, her statement was apparently directed at the JI chief who slammed the BISP during his recent media talk in Karachi.

“The BISP is a complete fraud — over the last 15 years, Murtaza Wahab’s party has gobbled 3,360 billion rupees of the people of Karachi,” the JI chief alleged.

In her response, Rubina Khalid said in her presser, “Floods have caused massive devastation across the country. At such a critical time, political point-scoring must be avoided. While constructive criticism is welcome, baseless and irresponsible statements should be refrained from.”

She said that the BISP played a key role in supporting flood victims back in 2022, and before that, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, she said, has rightly demanded that flood relief assistance should be routed through the BISP. “We now await the prime minister’s formal directives in this regard,” Khalid added.

On the other hand, reports suggested that the federal government does not intend to engage the BISP in supporting flood victims.

In addition, the Punjab government has publicly conveyed its refusal to engage the BISP for the flood-hit masses.

Punjab’s Information Minister Azma Bukhari told a presser in Lahore on Tuesday that the chief minister’s relief card would be launched for providing financial assistance to flood victims, indicating that the BISP would not be involved in this regard.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025