Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said Sunday that welfare of poor people was priority of the government and it would continue its policies for the improvement of their living standard.
Addressing a mass marriage ceremony of fifty couples organised by Ameer Begum Welfare Trust at Expo Centre here, he said that previous governments had ignored issues of deprived people of the country, but the PPP-led government initiated several revolutionary welfare projects.
He said the government had introduced projects for providing employment to youths and for the improvement of life of the common man.
The prime minister appreciated the Ameer Begum Welfare Trust for organising the ceremony in which girls of the poor families got married.
He urged the rich to come forward and help the deprived people so that their daughters could get married.
He lauded the Trust for its work for the poor without any discrimination in the fields of education, health and even in financial matters.
Gilani said that it was not only the duty of society to help the poor but also of the government to support the deprived people. He said the government had introduced the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in line with the vision of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and millions of the poor had benefited from the programme.
He said the BISP was initiated not only to support the poor but also provide employment to them, adding that it especially supported women and make them independent and self-employed.
He said millions of people were facilitated through the Bait-ul-Mal Pakistan and congratulated the newly married couples in the ceremony and wished them happiness in future.
He also gave away Rs 10,000 each to the 50 couples. Earlier, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Chief Patron ABWT, welcomed the Prime Minister and said the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had improved the status of women in the society.
Punjab Governor Latif Khan Khosa and his wife, Fizza Batul Gilani, daughter of the Prime Minister, Robina Shaheen Wattoo, Chairperson ABWT, Zamurrad Khan, Managing Direcxtor of Baitul Mal Pakistan, and Begum Shehnaz Wazir Ali, a social worker, were also present.