No quarterly payout for zakat beneficiaries
At least 27,000 zakat beneficiaries were deprived of payout in the first quarter of the current financial year due to lack of funds coupled with the dissolution of local committees responsible for disbursement, it emerged Tuesday.
The intended recipients say they have been visiting the offices of the district and local committees regularly but the offices closed and its representatives are nowhere to be found.
The committees, formed on the local level, completed their six-month tenure earlier this month. No replacement committees were formed due to the unavailability of funds.
There were around 3,570 such zakat committees in the six districts of Rawalpindi Division. In the Rawalpindi district, there were 1,166 such committees.
At the beginning of this year, the caretaker government had appointed administrators for all local zakat committees on a temporary basis after the constitutional term of the elected zakat committees expired. The terms of these ad hoc committees ended on October 5.
Following that, no new administrators were appointed due to which the local zakat committees went defunct. Their offices were closed and the work was completely stopped.
The beneficiaries of these disbursements rely on them for ration purchases, educational payments, and in some instances marriages and dowries. A large number of beneficiaries plan their treatment and surgeries based on these payments.
Faisal, another beneficiary, said that his father was undergoing dialysis. “For two months, he hasn’t undergone dialysis as I cannot afford it anymore,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries said zakat funds were no longer directed to government hospitals either. As a result, they had stopped providing free-of-charge treatment, they claimed.
Jamila Bibi, a widow, said they last received a payment on Eid. After that, no financial assistance was given to any family. “We go to the zakat office every week but come back unsuccessful.”
She said people were already facing challenges due to rampant inflation. “Now, they want to starve us by stopping these meagre handouts.”
The disbursements also benefit those who have an impairment, visual or otherwise. Families said that their children’s education had been affected.
They urged the government to release the fund and restore local zakat committees. They should either hold immediate elections and elect local chairmen and members or appoint new temporary administrators, they urged.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2023.