Protests triggered in PoGB as administration fails to provide government benefits

Amid the worsening economic situation in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan (PoGB), the local administration has failed to provide the latest sachet of scheduled economic benefits to the beneficiaries of government schemes.

According to the latest information, account holders of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) in Yasin Valley of PoGB organised a protest after account holders were unable to access their payments for the last four days due to an alleged issue persistent with the online system relating to BISP, the Pamir Times, a news source from PoGB, reported.

This malfunction in operations has attracted widespread frustration among recipients, as most of these rely on financial aid from BISP to fulfil their basic needs. The scheme allows beneficiaries to receive the social welfare payment directly into their accounts, which currently remain inaccessible to the general public of PoGB.

A protestor during the protest stated, “It has been four days now, and no beneficiary has received any payments in their accounts. The government has given no assurances and no one is giving answers to our questions. And the beneficiary accounts are being handled by a bank which has no branches in PoGB. And we don’t know when the site will revive. We are ready to struggle and if the issue is not soon resolved, then we will forcefully shut down the local office, and we will not be responsible for further consequences.”

Another local leader in the Pamir Times report claimed that people spend huge sums of money to travel from faraway locations to get clearance on their payments but BISP authorities often fail to do the needful.

“These people receive less benefits in the BISP scheme and spend more in for travelling to this place. The BISP authorities have given only one device to operate and access BISP accounts in between 10 thousand beneficiaries. People often spend hours here and return home frustrated and disappointed,” he stated.