Rights group Amnesty International South Asia on Thursday commended the Pakistani government for taking an “important step” for helping the country’s “most vulnerable communities realise their economic and social rights”.
The appreciation came a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan launched Ehsas aur khilafat programme aiming at poverty alleviation for the welfare of the public.
An important step by the Government of Pakistan to help the country's most vulnerable communities realize their economic and social rights. The rights to food, housing, education and health lay the foundation upon which a dignified life may be built. https://t.co/7VT4tG83pG
— Amnesty International South Asia (@amnestysasia) March 28, 2019
In a post shared on Twitter, AI South Asia stated: “The rights to food, housing, education and health lay the foundation upon which a dignified life may be built.”
A day earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a Rs 80 billion comprehensive poverty alleviation programme “Ehsas”, aimed at helping the downtrodden and vulnerable segments of society, including the poor, orphans, widows, homeless, disabled, undernourished and jobless.
Unveiling the salient features of the poverty alleviation programme, he said the government would allocate an additional amount of Rs 80 billion in the country’s social protection spending in backward areas from the current year, which would be raised to Rs 120 billion in 2021.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of a new Ministry of Social Protection/Poverty Alleviation to address the current fragmentation. Various institutions likes the BISP, PBM, Zakat, PPAF, etc would be working under that ministry, which would develop a one-window operation for social protection of the poor and to facilitate citizens, he added. He said the government would introduce a new constitutional amendment to move Article 38(d) from the “Principles of Policy” section to the “Fundamental Rights” section.
The change would make provision of food, clothing, housing, education and medical relief for the citizens, who could not earn a livelihood due to infirmity, sickness or unemployment, a state responsibility, the prime minister said, and described it as a first step towards the creation of a welfare state.