Distribution of Watan Cards: CJP urged to take notice of mismanagement

Flood survivor alleges that govt has distributed about 80 per cent of relief goods among influential people.

PESHAWAR: A social worker belonging to the southern district of Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan) appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan on Thursday to take suo motu notice of “mismanagement” in the distribution of Watan Cards.

Addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, Khanzada Amir Mahsood, a flood survivor from Qayyum Nagar, alleged that the government had neglected the poor and needy by distributing “about 80 per cent” of the flood relief goods among influential people of the area.

He alleged that the workers tasked with the distribution of the cards handed them to people on the basis of political affiliation, rather than merit. A good majority of the deserving people, thus, did not get the money that was intended for them.

“We conveyed our reservations over the irregularities in the distribution of Watan Cards but the government did not pay any attention to our complaints,” he claimed. These people, he said, have no source of income and are completely dependent on aid.

The work of non-government organisations and relief agencies in DI Khan was also hampered due to political interference, Mahsood claimed.

Mahsood said the government had failed to fulfil its responsibilities in meeting the requirements of flood survivors, as most of the poor remain in dire need of food and other commodities of
daily use.

He demanded a probe into the alleged embezzlement of flood relief funds, saying that the present rulers had “seized the rights of the poor.”

He said that the unprecedented price hike, unemployment and rampant corruption in the country were at their peak, observing that nobody seemed to be interested in taking steps for cleaning up the mess.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st,  2011.