State Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Kheal Das Kohistani has asked that the Benazir Income Support Programme be handed over to provincial authorities and has pressed for action against a purported corruption network within the scheme.
The call came after National Assembly disclosures on Friday showing BISP deleted more than 2.25 million beneficiaries from its database and halted payments to over 800,000 others.
Kohistani told reporters that existing mechanisms can tackle misuse of public money and noted that many corruption complaints stem from Sindh. He claimed that agents and government staff siphon funds from beneficiaries at various points, including during cash withdrawals.
The minister appealed to the relevant bodies to prosecute those involved and to reclaim money paid to bogus or ineligible recipients. He blamed BISP and its officials for the alleged graft, arguing that the programme, worth over Rs800 billion, should be transferred from the federal level to the provinces, which could run it more efficiently and shoulder its financial load.
In question time, the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division informed the Assembly that 2,259,404 beneficiaries had been removed from BISP between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, and that payments to more than 800,000 additional beneficiaries were suspended.
An audit found 140,488 government employees and their families listed as BISP beneficiaries for 2019-20, and reported recovery of over Rs712 million from fraudulent or ineligible recipients.
Of that amount, over Rs545 million was recovered by the FIA and more than Rs21 million by BISP staff. The ministry also said it received 55,579 complaints in the last fiscal year about unauthorized deductions, embezzlement and misuse of beneficiaries' funds.
