British High Commissioner to Pakistan Thomas Drew said in Multan on Friday that the friendship between the two countries would strengthen further in future.
While addressing a ceremony at Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) divisional office here, he said that Pakistan is a friendly country and the United Kingdom wanted it to get its due place in the comity of nations.
He said that people of Pakistan are very hard working and they are the real strength of the country. He added that women's role is vital for strengthening society. He said that every woman wants her family become prosperous and children acquire higher education.
He added that BISP Chairperson Marvi Memon who is also minister of state was a competent woman working hard in pursuit of the objective. He declared the BISP as a good programme supporting destitute women and lauded the federal and provincial governments for taking steps for success of the programme.
He assured Britain's support and cooperation for BISP and added that enabling kids of poor women go to school would brighten the future of Pakistan.
Director Headquarters BISP Shabbir Akbar Zaidi and Divisional Director Multan Sheikh Noor Muhammad briefed the British High Commissioner about the BISP and said that financial assistance was being provided to poor and deserving women in a transparent manner.
They said that payment to BISP beneficiaries was being ensured through Pakistan Post, mobilephones, Sahoolat Card and Benazir Debit Card. They, however, added that due to some problems, Biometric Verification System (BVS) has been introduced to make the process more easy and beneficiaries can get financial assistance by appearing personally along with their computerised national identity cards (CNICs).BISP board has
approved the New Eligibility Criteria, Exiting policy of existing
beneficiaries, BISP Graduation Model, Establishment of BISP Endowment Fund,
BISP Financial Regulations and Adhoc Relief Allowance-2017.The new criteria
will include the ever married women above 18 years of age, never married women
above 40 years and transgenders above 18 years with possession of CNIC. Exit
Strategy for the existing beneficiaries who would not meet the beneficiary criteria
after NSER 2017-18.BISP, the custodian of 5.6 million families
across the country and having a countrywide outreach through 450 offices and a
vast network of 60,000 Beneficiary Committees, offers its platform to all the
celebrities, organizations and institutions to work for the cause of child
protection.
BISP beneficiary women and children were being
sensitized through training on issues of child protection, children’s rights
and ways to ensure security of children through video documentaries, IEC
(Information, Education & Communication) material and animated and
illustrative messaging.
Different aspects of child protection, role of parents,
teachers, leaders, government, responsible members of society, legal procedures
regarding child protection were discussed.
The campaign also highlighted
different methods to inform children on the issue. Children were also trained to
undertake the strategy of “shout, run and inform the parents” in the situation
of any kind of abuse.
The BVS has ensured that only the registered deserving person can get the payment. They informed that BVS was functional in 58 districts across the country which included 18 districts of Punjabincluding Multan.
They said that 131,229 BISP beneficiaries were getting financial assistance in Multan division. They added that 78,231 beneficiaries have been shifted on BVS system while remaining 52,998 were getting payments through Pakistan Post.
British High Commissioner also talked to BISP beneficiaries on the occasion. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Global Envoy on Gender Equality Joanna Roper, Deputy Head DFID KemiWilliams, Director Admin GM Sheikh, Director BISP Bahawalpur Ishfaq Hiraj and others were also present.
