Christmas relief turns into disappointment

Authorities turn away several deserving families empty-handed

RAWALPINDI:

Hundreds of deserving Christian men and women returned empty-handed from District Council Hall on Wednesday after their hope of receiving Rs2,000 Christmas financial assistance shattered. They waited for hours and later returned after being dejected.

A good number of Christians including young and elderly women from all four districts of the division gathered from far-flung places looked upset after not receiving financial assistance for the last three days.

They raised slogans against the district administration. Only women were called in the first three days, but men were also invited from yesterday.

The protesters said that they had been coming to District Council Hall since December 16 following an announcement that the financial assistance would continue to be distributed till December 20 but not a single penny was given to anyone.

About 90% of women, who had to wait in long queues, were removed from the queues after raising objections over their national identity cards (NICs). They later protested over the district administration's attitude.

According to an official, they had been provided with a list of applicants on their laptops and those with registered NICs will receive financial assistance on their mobile phones after December 20.

According to protesting women, the district authorities provided contradictory instructions. Sometimes, the applicants were told to register with the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), but on the other were informed that only those whose names appeared on a specific list would receive financial aid.

They criticised the logic behind calling all deserving poor Christian families, women, and widows only to make them wait in queues for four to five hours. They argued that if a list existed, only those on it should have been summoned for assistance.

A victim of poverty, Maryam Bibi, a widow and retired sanitary worker, says she lives in a rented house and has four children to feed, but her pension barely covers the rent.

Nasira Begum complains lack of essential food items at home and questions the purpose of calling people for financial assistance when none have received it so far.