If Punjab Is truly prosperous, why are 5.1 million families still poor? Muzzammil Aslam
Advisor to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Finance Muzzammil Aslam, reacting to the distribution of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) funds, has said that Punjab is the province with the highest number of poor and deserving people in Pakistan. The evidence, he said, is that 5.1 million women in Punjab benefit from the Benazir Income Support Programme.
The Finance Adviser said that Sindh comes second, where 2.6 million women receive BISP payments. He added that 2.2 million women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 485,000 women in Balochistan benefit from BISP funds, whereas 21,000 women in Islamabad receive funds from the programme.
The KP Finance Adviser said the question is: if Punjab is truly such a prosperous province, then why are there 5.1 million poor families? Muzzammil Aslam said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s situation is understandable because for the past 20 years it has been affected by military operations and terrorism. He further noted that Punjab receives 52 percent of the resources under the NFC Award, yet such a high level of poverty remains a major question mark.