Instead of paying individual affected families this amount some industry or business could be set up for them.
RAWALPINDI: It is laudable that apart from other immediate measures to succour the Christian community, compensation amounts of one million rupees for each dead person and Rs400,000 each for those wounded, have been announced by the governments of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. The total amount for the 81 people who died and the 150 that were wounded comes to Rs141 million.
May I suggest that instead of paying the individual affected families this amount some industry or business — say, a flour mill — could be set up for them so they have access to a regular income. Till the project starts generating revenue, the affected families could probably be compensated through a Zakat Fund or the Benazir Income Support programme. It is better to teach them how to catch a fish instead of giving them a fish to eat.
Col (retd) Riaz Jafri
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2013.
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