Dearth of funds paralyses Zakat system

Financial assistance, free hospital treatment and marriage grants remain suspended

RAWALPINDI:

The Rawalpindi District Zakat Department, responsible for providing financial assistance to around 10,000 deserving beneficiaries, has become completely paralysed after the district chairman's post remained vacant for three and a half years and all 1,166 Union Council-level local Zakat committees across the district ceased to function.

For the past three years, financial assistance for widows, orphaned children and families living below the poverty line has remained suspended.

During this period, monthly stipends for leprosy patients and visually impaired persons, scholarships for talented students from poor families, and marriage grants for daughters of underprivileged households have not been provided. Following the suspension of Zakat funds, free operations, medical treatment and medicines under the Zakat programme have stopped at all government hospitals across the district.

Free dialysis for kidney patients and eye surgeries for poor families have also come to a complete halt. Due to the non-appointment of the district chairman and the absence of all 1,166 local Zakat committees, the Zakat distribution system across Rawalpindi and the division's six districts—Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Talagang and Murree—has become non-functional. Widows, leprosy patients and visually impaired individuals have grown frustrated after repeatedly visiting Zakat offices in search of monthly financial assistance.

Elderly widows say their repeated visits have left them physically exhausted. Amid severe financial hardship, the department also failed to provide Eid gifts to beneficiaries during both Eids last year and this year.

Previously, each eligible family received Eid assistance worth Rs20,000 to Rs24,000, but no such support has been provided for the last four Eids. Although the new fiscal year 2026-27 began on July 1, the Zakat Council has yet to receive any funds.

Widows Rashida Begum and Kubra Bibi said they travel from Rawat and Pirwadhai to the Zakat office every month, only to be told that assistance will begin from the first of the next month. They said three and a half years have passed, they now suffer from blisters on their feet, and officials no longer answer their phone calls.

They claimed several widows died while waiting for financial assistance and marriage funds for their daughters. Faisal, the brother of a leprosy patient, said families of leprosy patients across the district had previously received financial support, but it has remained suspended for three years, making it difficult even to purchase medicines.

He added that government hospitals in Rawalpindi have not received Zakat funds, leaving deserving patients without free treatment, medicines or surgeries. According to him, hospital staff now simply tell poor patients that no funds are available and ask them to return.

Marriage assistance for poor girls has also remained suspended for three years. Officials said letters seeking the appointment of a district Zakat chairman were sent on three occasions, but no appointment has been made.