HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday ridiculed Prime Minister Imran Khan for what he saw as his lack of originality by pointing out that the Ehsaas education scholarship programme he had launched was an “imitation” of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

He said at the inauguration ceremony of Peoples Poverty Reduction Programme (PPRP) of Sindh government for Ghotki and Sukkur districts at sports complex in Ghotki that the programme the prime minister launched that day was in fact BISP’s component of “Waseela-i-taleem”.

“You have not done anything new. You have only copied us,” he said sarcastically.

He said that PPP’s opponents lacked vision and were incapable of launching such projects. Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan’s governments tried to take this programme forward but as the saying went “naqal ke liye bhi aqal ki zaroorat hoti hai”, he said.

‘Ehsaas education scholarship programme is imitation of BISP’

“Today, Imran Khan launched Ehsaas education scholarship programme but nobody told him that there is no such programme as even this day the BISP’s account is being used because there is no legislation in place to run Ehsaas programme,” he said.

He said that financial assistance was just one component of the BISP which also covered education and health. When PPP formed federal government, it would further improve BISP and run it in an appropriate manner, he added.

Bilawal said that when BISP was launched Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan used to ridicule PPP government by saying that PPP was making beggars of women. But then everyone saw that BISP was recognised by institutions like World Bank as the best welfare programme for the alleviation of poverty.

He said that studies were conducted by world-renowned universities on this programme. “Now, countries like Egypt are replicating this programme for their social sector, which speaks volumes for success of PPP’s manifesto and ideology.”

Taking on the prime minister, he said that those harping on the tune of Ehsaas programme were least concerned about miseries of masses, who were drowned in historic price hike, tsunami of tabdeeli and historic unemployment.

He said that there were people who wanted to usurp women’s rights in the name of Islam but everyone knew that it was Islam which had ensured fundamental rights of women, including their share in inheritance and property. When women could engage in business and participate in war in Islam they could certainly become prime minister like Benazir Bhutto.

He said that PPP believed in women’s economic empowerment for a strong economy. He liked the PPRP most because it ensured women’s empowerment at grass-roots level and benefited 1.3 million households in Sindh, he said, adding that nobody could snatch this right from women.

He said that he had promised interest-free loans for women and this promise had been fulfilled in Ghotki. Under PPRP, 1.3m households were receiving benefits in 15 districts and getting interest-free loans while some obtained loans for low-cost housing. Imran Khan had promised 5m houses but not a single house had been built in Sindh while only under SRSO-PPRP, 223 houses had been built for the poor, 673,250 people had been given health insurance cards and 18,878 received assistance for kitchen gardening.

He said that PPP strived for making poor economically strong while others sought to benefit the rich alone by investing billions and trillions in the already affluent in the name of construction relief and tax amnesty scheme.

He said that when the rich were beneficiaries of government funds, they locked money in their own account but when funds were invested in the poor it made the economy strong. PPP wanted to make women politically empowered as well.

Bilawal said that Sindh government would spend Rs6 billion in Ghotki and Sukkur districts under PPRP in 103 union councils. This programme would later be expanded to katchi abadis to benefit women in urban areas. “We have so far spent Rs35bn in 20 districts under this programme as this is a programme with a massive outreach.”

PPP Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Minister for Local Bodies Nasir Hussain Shah also spoke at the programme.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2021