President Asif Ali Zardari, on Tuesday (September 15, 2009), launched the landmark Waseela-e-Haq program to help the country’s poor out of their misery. The program, an offshoot of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), will allow an interest-free loan of Rs. 300, 000 to the penurious citizens of the country, allowing them a chance to start their own income-generating schemes.

The unique feature of the Waseela-e-Haq program is that the loan will be paid only to the female head of a poor family, in line with the vision for women empowerment. The President, addressing a gathering at the launching of the program at the presidency, said that the program’s transparency will be ensured and the program will run above any kind of party politics. The vulnerable poor will get direct cash and about 19 billion rupees have already been distributed to deserving families so far.

The Waseela-e-Haq program will have up to 70 billion rupees in stock for some 5 million poor families in the country in 2009-2010. A country-wide survey is underway to identify and enlist the poor families in the country. The survey is expected to be completed in early 2010.

Poverty in Pakistan is one of the country’s worst concerns. No doubt that Waseela-e-Haq program is the first of its kind to consider nation-wide eradication of poverty and, if executed successfully, the current government will be remembered for a historical breakthrough in the nation’s otherwise hopeless state of affairs among the so-called ‘dregs’.