Not using BISP for aid of flood victims would be ‘negligence’: Aseefa

KARACHI: The First Lady and Member of the National Assembly Aseefa Bhutto Zardari said failing to use the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to aid Punjab’s flood victims would amount to negligence.

In a post on social media platform X, she said that more than four million people have been affected by the devastating floods in Punjab. The BISP, she said, is the fastest and most effective means of delivering aid to those impacted by the disaster.

Aseefa said the programme is a state institution with the data and capacity to reach affected people, stressing that not using it for relief efforts would amount to negligence.

Over 4 million people have been impacted by the unprecedented floods in #Punjab. The Benazir Income Support Programme is the fastest and most effective way to distribute relief. Not utilizing one of the state’s key organizations, which has both the data and the capacity to…

— Aseefa B Zardari (@AseefaBZ) September 24, 2025

Her response comes a day after Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari said that a “Chief Minister’s Relief Card” will be introduced to assist flood victims so that no one has to stand in long queues.

She said that the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was set up under a law, but flood victims will be assisted through the CM’s relief card. She suggested that everything should be politicised.

Addressing a press conference at the Directorate General Public Relations (DGPR), she said the Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and her team were constantly seen serving people in flood-hit areas.

“You would not have seen such commitment before. There is no area of Punjab affected by floods where the chief minister has not visited. The chief minister and her team worked like labourers in floodwaters. Our PDMA officer, Abdul Rehman, suffered a heart attack and passed away, while Patoki’s Assistant Commissioner Farhan Ahmed also died in the line of duty,” she said.

Bukhari said the chief minister personally talks to people. “I have not seen any other chief minister being so emotional, sitting on the ground to listen to people’s grief. A new style of governance is emerging in Punjab, but our critics only know how to spread negativity,” she added.

Web Desk