LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Senator Ishaq Dar on Thursday said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had changed the name of Pakistan Income Support Programme (PISP) to Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) during their just concluded tenure.

Explaining his stance with regards to press reports about the Benazir Income Support Programme, he said that he had launched the Rs 34 billion Pakistan Income Support Programme when he was holding the portfolio of finance minister in 2008 in order to extend financial aid to the poorest of the poor and destitute.

“It was made clear in my proposed scheme that the programme will be free of corruption and the poor will be given financial help after a thorough scrutiny and oblivious of any political affiliation,” the senator said.

He said after he quit the ministry, not only the name of programme was changed but the conditions attached to the programme, to protect it from corruption, were totally ignored.

“This is vindicated from the fact that the PPP has itself acknowledged that the names of 750,000 families from a list of 3.7 million beneficiary families of the Benazir Income Support Programme were struck off after an audit report revealed that these were either not poor or did not exist at all,” he said.

Ishaq Dar further revealed the programme has been slammed not because it was not beneficial to the poor but due to mismanagement and poor implementation by the PPP government.