Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Sunday strongly condemned removal of late Benazir Bhutto's picture from Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) logo. In a statement issued here, PPP secretary information Nafisa Shah said that this act of ruling PML-N is malevolent and it proves that usurper dictator Zia's endeared still have bitter feelings for Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. She said that BISP was passed by the parliament to pay tribute to the services, sacrifices and struggles of Benazir Bhutto for constitution and democracy.
"Nawaz Sharif wanted to end the programme [BISP] but due to the protest of international donor agencies he could not," she claimed. Shah said that PPP will raise the issue in both National Assembly and Senate. In an obvious reference to incumbent BISP chairwoman Marvi Memon, Shah said that since Nawaz Sharif is the blue eyed boy of Zia ul Haq, and this was the reason he hand-picked a close aide of former military dictator General Musharraf to head the social safety net programme.
"The people who are trying to erase Benazir Bhutto's name will soon be erased themselves from the pages of history," she concluded. In a move to have political dividends in the long run, the PML-N government had earlier made a failed attempt to re-name BISP with National /Pakistan Income Support Programme. However, after PPP resisted the move citing that it was created solely to acknowledge the services late Benazir for poor and the downtrodden, forcing the ruling PML-N to abandon the idea. But, recently the PML-N changed the logo and included the picture of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, while a small photograph of Benazir Bhutto is also shown which earned the ire of the PPP.