ISLAMABAD (National Times) – Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety and Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Shazia Marri Wednesday said that women empowerment was among the top priorities in Pakistan.

She was addressing the Fifth Annual Reykjavík Global Forum Women Leadership in Iceland. The federal minister Shazia Marri is representing Pakistan in Fifth Annual Reykjavík Global Forum Women Leadership along with MNA Shaista Pervaiz. In her speech, Shazia Marri said that she hailed from a flood affected district in Sindh province and highlighted that she herself and five other women Ministers are in the Federal Cabinet of Pakistan, which reflects women empowerment in Pakistan.

The minister informed the forum that she was coming from a country that was facing unprecedented floods due to historic rains which Pakistan had never experienced before. She highlighted that 33 million people were displaced due to flooding, a population of more than the total population of many countries around the world.

She underscored that there were around 650 thousand pregnant women among these people who needed maternal services while four million children were also suffering from the calamity. “I am also the Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety” she continued and added “I take pride in leading Pakistan’s most successful social protection programme, that is called Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)”.

The minister informed the forum that BISP covered about 8 million families of Pakistan which were the poorest of the poor, and the Government of Pakistan was providing targeted cash relief to these needy families for a better living.
Shazia Marri also quoted two other programmes, one pertaining to nutrition and another one to education. “We are trying to incentivize nutrition and education through BISP” she concluded.