'Some in PM cabinet want to use Ehsaas for votes' says Pakistan poverty alleviation chief

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Dr. Sania Nishtar who heads Pakistan's Ehsaas program, in her office in Islamabad on Jan. 24, 2020. (AN photo by Nazar ul Islam and Benazir Shah)
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Updated 26 January 2020
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'Some in PM cabinet want to use Ehsaas for votes' says Pakistan poverty alleviation chief

  • Dr. Sania Nishtar says there are some in PM cabinet who want to use program for political gain
  • National survey concluded 38.4 percent of Pakistanis live in multidimensional poverty

ISLAMABAD: In November, during a huddle of parliamentarians from the ruling party, Pakistani Tehreek-e-Isaaf (PTI), a lawmaker launched an unexpected attack on the government’s flagship poverty reduction program.
He took aim directly at the soft-spoken Dr. Sania Nishtar, special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on social protection and poverty alleviation, accusing her of rolling out initiatives benefiting the voters of his political opponents, Dr. Nishtar recalls, instead of his own. A few other voices chimed in.
There is “a small minority” within the cabinet, the special assistant conceded to Arab News this week, which is used to the old way of doing things-- politicizing social protection programs.
“Programs like these were in the past used for political purposes, for creating a vote bank,” she said, seated in her office in the capital, Islamabad. 
“The prime minister is very clear that our program will run apolitically. And while I am here, it cannot be otherwise,” she said.
The South Asian country of 208 million people, has a huge poverty problem. According to its last national survey conducted in 2015-16, 38.4 percent of Pakistan’s population lives in multidimensional poverty. This means not only do they have low incomes, they do not have access to health, electricity, clean water and education, among other things. A majority of those who live in extreme poverty are in the country’s largest (area-wise) province, Balochistan, in southwestern Pakistan.
An updated poverty survey is expected to be completed this year.
In March last year, Pakistan’s newly elected government launched its largest and most ambitious poverty alleviation plan, the Ehsaas program. Ehsaas is an umbrella platform with over 134 pro-poor policy initiatives, aimed at widows, the homeless, orphans, laborers, students, farmers and the elderly.
It was a tough task. The doctor knew she was staking her legacy on a plan which would face resistance from political quarters. When the prime minister first approached her to join his cabinet, she said she hesitated, but agreed once she was promised complete freedom without political interference, to carry out her work.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan came across to me as someone who was genuinely interested in the problems of the poor. I am, to this day, never stopped from doing what is right. And if I did not have the prime minister’s complete support, I would not be sitting here today,” she said.
Since March, one after another, an initiative is rolled out every month in much-publicized ceremonies personally attended by Khan. Some ongoing projects include soup kitchens and shelter homes for the homeless and the Kifalat program, through which women, who do not have any other source of income, receive a small monthly stipend of Rs. 2,000 ($13).
Dr. Nishtar is powering through, while the pushback has only intensified.
Last month, the doctor announced the removal of over 800,000 people from the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), a cash transfer plan launched in 2008 for women who do not have any source of income. The BISP now falls under Ehsaas.
The names excluded, Dr. Nishtar told reporters, were “undeserving” of the income support. 
Upward of 140,000 of the claimants were government employees against whom disciplinary action would be taken, she said. Others listed on the BISP had homes and cars registered under their names while some had made foreign visits in the last few years.
Soon after, leader of major opposition party Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, called the exclusion of names an “economic attack on poor women.”
Recently, a member of the national assembly from the ruling party walked into the doctor’s office to complain about a woman employed at his home who was removed from the BISP only because she traveled to perform Umra. 
“I asked him, does the woman live with you? He said yes. Do you provide her food and pay her medical bills? He said yes. I then asked him, don’t you think another woman who has nothing is more eligible for the program?” Dr. Nishtar said and added: “The BISP is for the poorest of the poor.”
Combined, the BISP and Khifalat aim to support seven million women in Pakistan. Ayesha Bano, who lives in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said she had been on the BISP for over a decade.
“Without it my household would be difficult to run,” she told Arab News.
Previously, parliamentarians were given thousands of BISP forms each, to fill out on behalf of women they thought were deserving. These forms were often misused. But that has now changed. The doctor and her team, through non-governmental organizations and analytical data, is identifying those who deserve the Rs. 5,000 quarterly as a stipend. Last week, Dr. Nishtar announced that quarterly figure would be increased to Rs. 6000 ($40).
She said that until now, she had only zeroed in on the federal and provincial governments, while other state departments still remained to be examined, to weed out officials exploiting the BISP.
“They [officials] are not giving me data because they know what I intend to do,” she said.
Political and bureaucratic challenges aside, there is one other problem – money. Social welfare programs like Ehsaas are expensive and require government revenue in order to bankroll them. In the last budget, the government allocated Rs. 80 billion to the initiative. This figure could be increased to Rs. 120 billion this year.
“Elaborate social welfare systems require the governments to collect a large proportion of their GDP’s in taxes,” explains Shahrukh Wani, a prominent Pakistani economist.
“Pakistan doesn’t collect enough (tax) to provide a basic level of service delivery, let alone enough under which it can provide comprehensive social protections. It is unlikely any such program can work in the absence of a large and extensive tax infrastructure.”
Dr. Nishtar agrees that Pakistanis out of the tax net have a connection with how the program is funded and its effectiveness.
“Social protection programs are largely funded through revenue,” she said. “The predictability of the budget has to be there.”


US lobbied UN rights council to dilute Pakistan’s Gaza proposal, diplomats say

Updated 6 sec ago
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US lobbied UN rights council to dilute Pakistan’s Gaza proposal, diplomats say

  • UN rights council adopted the resolution moved by Pakistan seeking Israel's accountability
  • Despite forsaking the council, US lobbied to block any new UN investigation against Israel

GENEVA: Two months after President Donald Trump announced a halt to US engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council, Washington is influencing its work by applying pressure publicly and behind the scenes, seven diplomats and rights workers said.

The United States left its seat empty during a six-week session of the 47-member council ending on Friday, but its lobbying and pressure had some success, the sources told Reuters.

They said the US, which has accused the council of an anti-Israel bias, had focused on blunting a proposal by Pakistan on the creation of an International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM), the most rigorous type of UN investigation, on Israel's actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The version of Pakistan's proposal that was passed on Wednesday by the council, whose mission is to promote and protect human rights worldwide, did not include the creation of the IIIM.

The council already has a commission of inquiry on the Palestinian Territories, but Pakistan's proposal would have created an additional probe with extra powers to gather evidence for possible use in international courts.

A March 31 letter sent by Brian Mast, Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, and James R. Risch, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, cautioned against voting the proposal through.

“Any HRC member state or UN entity that supports an Israel-specific IIM ... will face the same consequences as the ICC faced,” the letter said.

It appeared to be referring to sanctions approved by the House of Representatives on the International Criminal Court in protest at its arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence minister over Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

The final version of Pakistan’s proposal referred only to an invitation to the UN General Assembly to consider an IIIM in the future.

Two Geneva-based diplomats said they had received messages from US diplomats before the change of wording asking them to oppose the new investigation.

“They were saying: ‘back off on this issue,’” said one, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Reuters could not establish whether the revision was a direct result of US actions.

A US State Department spokesperson said it was complying with the executive order signed by Trump on Feb. 4 withdrawing the US from the council and would not participate in it, adding: “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on private diplomatic conversations.”

Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in Geneva did not respond to a request for comment.

“The US seems to be trying to have it both ways. It doesn’t want to pay for or participate in the UN but it still wants to boss it around,” said Lucy McKernan, Deputy Director for United Nations at Human Rights Watch’s Geneva office.

‘RAW POWER’

The US and Israel are not members of the council but, like all UN member states have informal observer status and a seat in the council’s meeting chamber.

International human rights institutions are now at a critical juncture, said Phil Lynch, Director of International Service for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization.

“We are potentially confronting a future characterised by lawlessness and raw power,” he said.

The US was once the top donor to the UN rights system, but Trump has said the UN is “not being well run” and aid cuts by his administration have forced scalebacks.

The US and Israel have also opposed the mandate of one of the council’s independent experts during this session.

The Israeli ambassador said on March 24 that Francesca Albanese, a critic of Israeli actions in Gaza, had breached a UN code of conduct through “blatant antisemitic behaviour and discourse,” a diplomatic note showed.

The US State Department spokesperson said Albanese was “unfit for her role.”

“The correspondence received is under consideration,” council spokesperson Pascal Sim said, adding that whenever the council makes a nomination, “it does so with the knowledge that the mandate-holder is expected to serve up to six years in this function.”

The internal body that ensures UN experts adhere to a code of conduct condemned what it described as a coordinated campaign against Albanese, according to a letter from the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures dated 28 March.

It found no evidence to support Israel’s complaints against Albanese. However, it is introducing social media guidelines for UN experts in light of some concerns raised about her X posts.

 


Pakistan army commanders express ‘complete solidarity’ with Palestine, condemn Israeli ‘war crimes’

Updated 37 min 11 sec ago
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Pakistan army commanders express ‘complete solidarity’ with Palestine, condemn Israeli ‘war crimes’

  • The corps commanders’ meeting vowed not to allow anyone to disrupt peace in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province
  • The army chief says ‘there is no space for terrorists and their facilitators in Pakistan’ while asking for greater vigilance

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top army generals on Friday expressed “complete solidarity” with the Palestinian people and condemned Israel’s “war crimes” in Gaza during a corps commanders’ meeting held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the military’s media wing said.

The war in Gaza, which began in October 2023, has continued despite repeated international calls for a ceasefire. The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 50,000 in the conflict, with women and children accounting for a significant portion of the casualties.

Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel, has consistently advocated for an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders. It has also raised concern over the Gaza war at global forums, including the United Nations Security Council, and demanded a ceasefire and accountability for Israeli actions.

“The forum expressed complete solidarity with the people of Palestine and condemned serious human rights violations and war crimes being perpetrated in Gaza,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement released after the 268th Corps Commanders’ Conference.

“The forum also reiterated unequivocal diplomatic, political and moral support to the people of Palestine,” it added.

Chaired by Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, the high-level meeting reviewed national security challenges and received a comprehensive briefing on the evolving geo-strategic environment.

Participants reaffirmed the military’s resolve to eliminate “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations” and said no one would be allowed to disrupt peace in Balochistan, Pakistan’s southwestern province plagued by separatist violence.

The commanders vowed to thwart the designs of “foreign-backed proxies” and their “political supporters” attempting to destabilize the province.

“There is no space for terrorists and their facilitators in Pakistan,” the army chief said on the occasion.

He vowed to extend full support to the government and law enforcement agencies to take strict legal measures against illicit economic activities, noting they were intrinsically linked to the financing of militant violence in the country.

General Munir also directed field commanders to maintain “the highest standards of operational readiness and professional excellence,” stressing continuous training to ensure combat preparedness.

 


IMF team arrives in Pakistan for second phase of anti-corruption and governance review

Updated 04 April 2025
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IMF team arrives in Pakistan for second phase of anti-corruption and governance review

  • The IMF team conducted its preliminary Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment in February
  • It is expected to meet finance division, central bank, tax authority and election commission officials this time

KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team has arrived in Pakistan to carry out the second phase of its Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA), part of the country’s $7 billion loan program, the finance ministry confirmed on Friday.
The GCDA is a detailed assessment tool used by the global lending agency to identify governance vulnerabilities in areas such as fiscal management, financial oversight and the rule of law. It is designed to support targeted reforms to improve transparency, accountability and institutional performance.
The IMF conducted the preliminary phase of the assessment in February at the request of the Pakistani government. Following the visit, it praised the country’s commitment to governance reform.
“Yes,” a ministry official said in a brief response on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to the media about the issue, when asked if the IMF team had arrived in the country.
Another ministry official corroborated the arrival of the IMF team, saying it was the continuation of its first trip to Pakistan in February.
The three-member IMF team that visited Islamabad earlier had initiated its evaluation of corruption vulnerabilities across six core state functions in Pakistan.
That visit coincided with a separate IMF mission reviewing Pakistan’s economic performance under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which later led to a staff-level agreement expected to unlock a $1 billion disbursement.
Pakistan, a regular borrower of IMF funding, is undergoing the GCDA to identify priority structural reforms required under the EFF to help revive its fragile economy.
During the February visit, the IMF GCDA delegation met with Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to discuss the functioning of the judiciary.
In this second round, the IMF team is expected to engage with officials from the finance division, central bank, tax authority as well as institutions such as the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Auditor General of Pakistan, Election Commission and the law ministry.
After completing its review, the IMF team will file a report and recommend steps for addressing corruption vulnerabilities and strengthening integrity and governance.
Its findings are expected to assist the Pakistani government in implementing reforms aimed at enhancing transparency, building institutional capacity and achieving inclusive and sustainable growth.
Pakistan aims to expand its economy by 3.6 percent in the current fiscal year ending in June, in a bid to generate jobs for its large youth population.
The country, home to over 240 million people, has faced a significant brain drain amid economic instability and limited employment opportunities.
The finance ministry officials denied local media reports suggesting that the visiting IMF team would provide input in the government’s ongoing budget formulation process.


Pakistan invites scientists, students to pitch experiments for mission to Chinese space station

Updated 04 April 2025
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Pakistan invites scientists, students to pitch experiments for mission to Chinese space station

  • The country’s space agency has partnered with China to send first Pakistani astronaut to space
  • The mission is expected take place by late 2026 following the completion of astronaut training

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national space agency on Friday invited scientists, researchers and students to contribute to the country’s first-ever human spaceflight mission by submitting proposals for innovative experiments to be conducted aboard a Chinese space station.
Earlier this year in February, the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) signed a cooperation agreement with China, paving the way for a Pakistani astronaut to travel to the Tiangong space station.
The mission is expected to take place by the end of 2026 following the completion of astronaut training.
“As Pakistan’s first astronaut prepares to undertake a historic journey to the Chinese Space Station (CSS), the national space agency calls for proposals for innovative experiments to be conducted in the extreme thermal, complete vacuum and microgravity environment of the CSS to maximize the scientific impact of this mission,” SUPARCO said in an official statement.
“This is a significant chance for Pakistan’s scientific community and emerging scientists and engineers to contribute to the nation’s space journey and make a lasting impact on the future of space exploration,” it added.
The statement said the Chinese space station orbits the Earth at an altitude of around 380 kilometers, completing one revolution every 92 minutes at a speed of approximately 7.7 kilometers per second.
The space station features state-of-the-art facilities, including specialized experiment racks for research in life sciences, biotechnology, fundamental physics, fluid dynamics, material science and astrophysics.
The Pakistani agency particularly encouraged proposals in agriculture and medical sciences, noting the potential of microgravity to generate groundbreaking insights in those fields.
“Proposed experiments should be novel, cost-effective, lightweight and feasible within a week in microgravity,” it said. “Submissions must align with CSS research priorities, be unique, and support sustainable development goals.”
SUPARCO highlighted the selected experiments could lead to high-impact scientific publications, patents or commercial applications, emphasizing the project’s potential to contribute to socio-economic development.
The deadline to submit proposals is April 30.


Trafficking of NATO, Soviet arms continues in Afghanistan, Pakistan years after Taliban takeover — report

Updated 04 April 2025
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Trafficking of NATO, Soviet arms continues in Afghanistan, Pakistan years after Taliban takeover — report

  • While weapons management practices have improved over the past three years, their application remains inconsistent across Afghan provinces and communities, monitor says
  • The statement comes months after Islamabad voiced ‘profound concern’ over the presence of advanced US weapons in Afghanistan amid a surge in militancy in Pakistan’s border areas

ISLAMABAD: Trafficking and illegal sale of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Soviet arms have continued in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s border regions more than three years after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and their seizure of the previous regime’s stockpiles, a Geneva-based monitor Small Arms Survey has said in its recent report.
The report, titled “Documenting Arms Availability in Afghanistan,” said as of August 2021, Afghanistan had 258,300 rifles, including M4, M16 and AK-variants, 64,300 pistols, 63,000 sniper rifles, 56,155 light, medium and heavy machine guns, 31,000 grenade launchers, 9,115 shotguns, 1,845 rounds of 60-82mm, as well as hundreds of thousands of accessories and munitions.
The paper reviewed field investigations conducted from 2022 to 2024 into the availability and prices of small arms, light weapons, accessories, and ammunition at informal markets in the Afghanistan–Pakistan border areas. It found that cross-border trafficking was more of a “slow drip” than a flood, with both newer NATO- and older Soviet-pattern weapons still accessible in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces and Pakistan’s tribal districts.
While weapons management practices have improved over the past three years, their application remains inconsistent across provinces and communities, with institutional weaknesses, including limited technical capacity and reliance on paper-based systems, undermining the Taliban’s control efforts, according to the report. Diversion to illicit markets and the “deliberate provision of weapons to various non-state armed groups” remain significant concerns.
“More than three years after the Taliban’s takeover and their seizure of the previous regime’s weapons stockpiles, the de-facto authorities have strengthened control over commanders and restricted civilians’ and private businesses’ access to arms,” the report, published late last month, read.
“Arms trafficking has continued — likely with at least the tacit approval of low-level Taliban officials — and evidence suggests the continued arming of UN Security Council-designated terrorist groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda, alongside efforts to acquire conventional weapons systems on international markets.”
Many local commanders in Afghanistan view weapons obtained during the insurgency as personal property, or property of their respective fighting group, and therefore resist efforts to register and manage these arms centrally, according to the report.
Additionally, internal divisions within the Taliban, along with the personal networks of commanders, provide informal pathways to acquire weapons, bypassing formal approval processes. These challenges led to significant variations in control practices from province to province based on the influence of local commanders and their relationship with Afghan central authorities.
“When comparing prices in Pakistan with those in Afghan border provinces, US M4 rifles cost between USD3,325 and USD 3,700 in Pakistan, making them cheaper than in Khost and Nangarhar on the Afghan side but slightly more expensive than in Kunar, Paktia, and Paktika,” it read.
“In general, the wide variety in price is likely indicative of the condition of the weapons and their origin; sophisticated replicas may have also accounted for some of the lower-priced models. M16 rifles, however, are significantly less expensive in Pakistan, at an average price of between USD1,245 and USD1,400, compared to USD1,824–3,065 in Afghanistan... Conversely, Russian AK-pattern rifles are notably more expensive in Pakistan.”
In Jan. this year, Pakistan voiced “profound concern” over the presence of advanced US weapons in Afghanistan, which Washington has sought to be returned by Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers.
“The presence of US advance weapons in Afghanistan, left behind in the aftermath of the withdrawal of its troops in August 2021, has been an issue of profound concern for the safety and security of Pakistan and its citizens,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
“These weapons have been used by terrorist organizations, including the TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan], to carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan.”
The statement came months after Pakistani security officials said custom authorities had seized a large cache of US-made weapons and ammunition worth approximately Rs35 million ($125,000) at a border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The weapons seized at the Torkham border crossing in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province included M4 rifles and magazines, security sources said in Oct. last year.
Pakistan has struggled to contain surging militancy in KP since a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban, or the TTP, and the state broke down in November 2022.
The TTP and other militant groups have frequently targeted security forces convoys and check-posts, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in recent months. In 2024 alone, the Pakistani military reported that 383 soldiers and 925 militants were killed in various clashes.
Islamabad has frequently blamed the surge in militancy on Afghanistan, accusing it of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. Afghan officials deny involvement and insist that Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.