PESHAWAR – Advisor to the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Finance and Inter-Provincial Coordination, Muzzammil Aslam, on Friday raised concerns over the distribution of funds under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), claiming that developed provinces like Punjab and Sindh are receiving a disproportionately larger share compared to underdeveloped regions such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
In a statement issued by his office, Aslam pointed out that Punjab, the most populous and economically developed province, accounts for 4.6 million BISP beneficiaries and receives Rs161 billion in support. Sindh follows with 2.6 million beneficiaries and Rs100 billion in funding. In contrast, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with 1.9 million beneficiaries, receives Rs72 billion, while Balochistan, with only 0.5 million recipients, gets Rs18 billion.
Aslam attributed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s elevated poverty rates to the merger of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where he noted that 75 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. He questioned whether the higher allocations to Punjab and Sindh were a result of poor governance in those provinces or discrepancies in BISP’s poverty data.
Calling for greater equity in federal support, Aslam urged the federal government to provide additional consideration to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, citing the unique challenges they face, including security issues and persistent underdevelopment. He emphasized the need for a fairer and more data-driven approach to social protection in order to ensure that the country’s most vulnerable populations are not left behind.
