Charges of political affiliation: BISP faces prospects of closure after installation of interim setup: Dilshad

The moment a caretaker setup will be in place, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will swing into action to determine the fate of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), and if the programme's alleged political affiliation with a major political party to rig the upcoming general elections is proved true, it may face closure, it is learnt.
Kunwar Dilshad, Former Secretary of ECP told Business Recorder, "No doubt the BISP was started to provide financial support to poor and vulnerable segments of the society but the name of the programme has politicised it and it seems as if during the upcoming election, the programme would be used by the current government to gain support of masses. There was another social safety net program titled ' Peoples' Programme' run by Benazir Bhutto in 1990s but Nawab Akbar Bugti, the then Chief Minister of Balochistan ordered the closure of the programme in the province on the grounds that the said programme was being used by PPP for political motives. Following in the footsteps of Bugti, at that time, Chief Minister of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif also ordered that the programme be abolished."
Well-informed sources said the BISP is the flagship programme of PPP. "The programme is designed to provide cash grant of Rs 1000 per month for the poor but reportedly, PPP has been politicising this programme to avail maximum benefit in the upcoming elections 2013. The party workers of PPP have been provided lists of the BISP beneficiaries in order to cash in on the BISP beneficiaries before the upcoming general elections in 2013 in the country," sources added.
The opposition has also raised some objections but the fate of the programme is yet to be decided by the ECP. "After the completion of the current government's tenure, if it is found guilty of using BISP to secure or consolidate PPP votes, the ECP may order its name changed or it may face closure. Before the interim setup, no initiative is expected to be taken by ECP in this regard," sources said.
Qaiser Bengali, architect of BISP denied that BISP was being used for political purposes as the program is providing financial assistance to millions of families on monthly basis. Asad Umar, senior Vice-President of PTI said a social safety net programme should be free of any political influence but BISP is being used by the current government as an effective tool to influence upcoming general elections instead of providing financial support to the poor.
Senator Pervaiz Rasheed (PML-N) accused "The PPP government of using BISP funds during by-elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)." The World Bank in one of its report titled: 'Towards an Integrated National Safety Net System' maintains that the original beneficiary selection approach of BISP that relied on parliamentarians suffered from critical shortcomings that prevented it from being a long-term solution. In particular, many of the parliamentarian-selected beneficiaries who had high poverty scores also had very high political connections and participation indexes, implying that social networks mattered significantly in the selection process.