MUZAFFARABAD (Zulfiqar Ali/Kashmir Investigation Team): The Anwar-led government in Azad Kashmir couldn’t start the much-touted Social Protection Program even after 16 months of issuing an ordinance in this regard, leaving thousands of poor, and needy economically exposed.
Officials of the Social Welfare Department are unable to provide a clear reason for this delay, but they said that the decision to distribute aid money will be made by the Social Protection Board.
The Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir is the chairman of this board, while the Minister of Finance, Minister of Social Welfare, Chief Secretary, Secretary Law, Secretary Finance, Secretary Usher and Zakat, Secretary for Women’s Development, Accountant General, and two elected members of the assembly are its members.
According to the law, the Board will approve the annual budget before June 30 every year, but so far, no meeting of the board has been held, nor has any budget been approved.
Due to this, there is a fear that the program may not start even in the current financial year.
An official said that it has not yet been decided how much money will be given on a monthly basis to a needy family or individual, though, the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir had announced that Rs20,000 will be given monthly per needy family.
After this, the government invited applications from eligible individuals from August 12 to August 31, 2024. During this period, 118,825 individuals or families were registered.
On December 20, 2024, the government claimed that 18,161 families or individuals were declared eligible for financial assistance.
Eligible for Social Protection Program
According to information obtained by ‘KIT’, 18,161 families or individuals have been declared eligible for financial assistance under the Social Protection Program.
In March 2024, the Azad Kashmir government issued the “Social Protection of Vulnerable Population Ordinance” to protect financially weak sections, which was formally approved by the Legislative Assembly on May 31, 2024.
Under the law, widows, orphans, divorced women, disabled, elderly, and transgender individuals have been declared eligible for financial assistance.
On July 11, 2024, the Bank of Azad Jammu and Kashmir issued an advertisement stating that the government had deposited Rs 9 billion in the Social Protection Fund.
According to a senior government official, the annual expected profit on the Social Protection Fund is approximately Rs 1.2 billion. If Rs 20,000 is given monthly to one family, then only 5,000 families can benefit from this amount annually.
The official further stated that this delay will continue until the government is either able to provide assistance to all 18,000+ eligible individuals, or the number of beneficiaries is reduced, or the aid amount is reduced so much that all beneficiaries could be adjusted.
However, he said that after the program starts, continuing it on a permanent basis will be a big challenge because it is not possible to earn so much profit every year that could regularly provide assistance to all beneficiaries.
He suggested that if the government truly wants to continue this program, it will have to significantly increase the Social Protection Fund, otherwise it will be difficult to continue this program.
An official of the Government of Pakistan stated that the majority of those who applied were indeed needy.
However, he said that out of these, approximately 8,000 families were already receiving financial assistance under the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), so they were excluded.
The Azad Kashmir government had heavily promoted this program as a major success, but not a single rupee has been given to any deserving person yet.
There is widespread public disappointment, and the beneficiaries only want the government to fulfill its promises.
