Favouritism, political infighting mar Covid-19 relief operations in Sindh.

Byline: Imtiaz Ali

KARACHI -- Distribution of rations and other relief goods have become highly politicised in the province as political parties are criticising each other for the sake of point scoring.

According to witnesses and officials, political infighting and favouritism have severely affected the relief activities in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

A security official, who wished not to be named, told Dawn that the prime minister's Ehsas social safety programme had become 'highly politicised' as rival political parties using it ostensibly for some political gains.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders claimed that the programme belonged to them while Pakistan Peoples Party leaders insisted that it was the same Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) under which several monthly instalments were being given to the poorest of the poor.

At certain places in Karachi and other parts of Sindh, people with strong political connections had virtually hijacked the distribution of cash among poor women.

Each deputy commissioner gets Rs40m for ration distribution; many fail to get benefit from Ehsas programme due to tough criteria

The officer recalled that in district South a known political figure linked to the PTI insisted that his supporters/voters should be given cash. Same was the situation witnessed in rural areas of the province.

Thus, the cash distribution among the poor under Ehsas programme was increasingly becoming a new source of 'political infighting'.

The second issue pertained to alleged favouritism in the distribution of ration bags as the chairmen of union committees/councils, who were supposed to look after the distribution process, were openly accusing that the ruling parties had been ignoring poor residents belonging to other parties.

Recently, several UC chairmen of district West had openly criticised the Sindh government over ration distribution. These UC chairmen are affiliated with different political parties including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Jamaat-i-Islami, AwaAmi National Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan.

During a recent press conference, they alleged that the PPP-led Sindh government was allegedly ignoring them during the process of distribution of rations. They said that it was being done on favouritism by violating their mandate.

They pointed out that the provincial government had already announced that rations would be distributed through the UC chairmen for which a committee had already been...