PM's aide defends govt decision to strike 800,000 names from BISP database.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Sania Nishtar, at a news conference in Islamabad on Thursday, defended the government's decision to remove approximately 800,000 names from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) database.

Beneficiaries for the BISP were identified through a survey conducted 10 years ago. People's [financial] situation can change during 10 years. It is also possible that the beneficiaries initially identified by the survey were never truly deserving [of the stipend].

Defending the decision to strike the names from the database, Nishtar said the government had crafted certain criteria for the beneficiaries and had also taken the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on board.

"We have tried our best to choose objective criteria so that a forensic audit can be conducted down the line if the need arises.

"This is not an ad-hoc decision that was made on a whim or on a political basis."

Nishtar added that government employees will not be included among the beneficiaries. "Government employees, regardless of their grade, are paid accordingly. Which means that they will never be included among the country's poorest."

"Deserving citizens will be brought in place of the 800,000 names that were removed from the database," she said.

Explaining the new criteria, the PM's aide said women as well as their husbands who have travelled abroad once or on multiple occasions, own a car, have a PTCL phone bill of more than Rs1,000 over a six-month period or a mobile phone expense of more than Rs1,000 in the same time frame will not be included in the list of beneficiaries.

"Citizens, and their spouses, who have paid for Nadra's executive services when applying for a passport, have three or more family members who have availed Nadra's executive CNIC services or are employees of the government, railways, post office or BISP will also be excluded from the list."

She reiterated that there was no political interference in the decision. "It is a purely technical decision. In our eyes, such individuals are not deserving [of the stipend]."

"Moving forward, all beneficiaries will be identified through a digital survey. Further, desks will be established at a district level for identifying families who cannot complete the digital survey.

"Once we have their data, we will run it through data analytics to narrow down the list. Once this is completed, the data will be filtered again...