Zakat beneficiaries left in the lurch

At least 29,000 Zakat beneficiaries including widows of the Rawalpindi division are facing a great deal of inconvenience as a 'severe economic crunch' has led to the stoppage of payments and free treatment to the deserving this year.

The beneficiaries of Zakat receive free treatment and free medicines in all 17 hospitals of the Rawalpindi division with Zakat funds. Financial assistance to leprosy patients and blinds has been halted, while the marriage grant and financial support for widows and poor families have also been completely stopped.

The situation has worsened further as the District Zakat Committee has no chairman for more than a year, while 1,166 local Zakat committees also lack chairmen. Additionally, the provincial zakat department has also become completely inactive.

The term of appointment of administrators of 1,166 Zakat Committees has also ended due to which all local Zakat committees have also become completely inactive.

Last time, the Zakat fund was released to the beneficiaries of 43 districts across Punjab in May 2024. Widows have been unable to receive financial assistance for the last four and a half months, while free treatment including medicines in all hospitals has stopped due to the non-availability of funds. Operations for critical patients including dialysis have also halted and all Zakat patients have been discharged.

It is learned that there has been no District Chairman of the Zakat Committee in any district of Punjab for the last year as the term of all of them expired in March 2023 and the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) were made administrators of the District Zakat Committees. On June 23, the term of the local Zakat Committees expired, grade 16 officers were appointed as administrators, but later their term also expired. Currently, the provincial Zakat Department is completely nonfunctional due to the absence of the chairmen of all district and local Zakat Committees.

Widow Reshman Bibi says she has been coming to the Zakat office for the last four months, but every time she returns empty-handed. "We are extremely worried. The government should release funds immediately or all 10,000 affected families of the Rawalpindi district will protest outside the Zakat office," she warned.

When contacted, the District Zakat Office officials confirmed that there was no district chairman at the moment, while 1166 local Zakat committees have also been disbanded after the completion of their terms.

They further said that funds were not available from July 1, but upon receiving fresh payments funds to the deserving would be released immediately.