Pakistan’s ruling parties have turned the country’s flagship social protection program into a political instrument.

Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, and in recent years it has endured a succession of devastating climate shocks—from the record-breaking floods of 2022 to recurrent heatwaves and droughts. Each disaster has pushed already fragile households deeper into poverty. The most recent floods across Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and the riverine belt of Sindh displaced millions and destroyed livelihoods. As floodwaters receded, affected families returned to shattered homes and looked to the state and the international community for help.

It was at this moment of acute need that a political dispute erupted between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) over the use of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) as a vehicle for distributing emergency financial assistance. Rather than presenting a unified response to disaster, the country’s two largest governing parties became locked in a war of words over relief mechanisms.

Flood-affected communities demonstrated remarkable resilience in surviving the initial catastrophe. Provincial authorities played an effective role in rescue operations, yet immediate financial assistance did not reach inundated populations during the emergency phase. Delays deepened as political tensions escalated. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari publicly asserted that BISP had been the “sole method” for delivering relief during the 2022 floods, through which each affected family received roughly $90 in emergency cash to absorb the shock. He argued that the exact mechanism should again be deployed at the rescue stage.

The Punjab government, however, rejected the use of the federal government’s flagship social assistance program. Instead, it opted for its own provincial mechanism—the Chief Minister Punjab Flood Relief Card—while raising questions about the transparency and data integrity of BISP, despite its long-established reputation as a well-functioning safety-net program. The disagreement not only stalled assistance but also publicly undermined confidence in an institution designed to operate above partisan politics.

This political confrontation did more than politicize a federal social protection program; it exposed fractures within the governing coalition and strained future political cooperation between the parties. Although senior party leadership eventually intervened to de-escalate the dispute, the damage had already been done.

The Punjab government’s resistance to BISP stemmed from deeper political anxieties. One concern was electoral: allowing BISP to operate in Punjab risked associating flood relief with the legacy of Benazir Bhutto, potentially strengthening the PPP’s political profile in a province where PML-N dominance has long been central to its power base—particularly at a time when local government elections were anticipated. A second concern concerns governance and accountability. Post-disaster recovery poses severe political risks; success can consolidate public support, while failure can exact a high political cost. Control over relief mechanisms thus became inseparable from political survival.

In the process, a globally recognized social protection program saw its credibility eroded by partisan maneuvering. The episode raised troubling questions about how political parties in Pakistan view social safety nets designed for the poorest and most disaster-affected populations. Rather than treating such programs as humanitarian and poverty-reduction tools, political actors too often instrumentalize them for short-term electoral advantage.

Pakistan remains a lower-middle-income country with a per capita GDP of roughly $1,505, and nearly a quarter of its population lives below the poverty line, disproportionately in rural areas. Rising fuel and food prices, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, had already strained poor households before the 2022 floods pushed millions further into deprivation. Subsequent flooding in 2025 devastated lives and livelihoods once again. In response, federal and provincial governments have relied heavily on BISP’s social safety-net programs to assist victims of repeated shocks.

With sustained support from the World Bank, Pakistan has begun institutionalizing social protection systems to shield vulnerable populations from economic and environmental crises. Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto—an enduring symbol of democracy and women’s empowerment—the coalition government of PPP and PML-N jointly established BISP in her honor. The program was conceived as a national commitment to protect poor and vulnerable citizens, particularly women, from the shocks of poverty and disaster.

Today, BISP stands as Pakistan’s flagship social safety net, delivering unconditional and conditional cash transfers that encourage families to invest in their children’s education, health, and nutrition. It has become a central instrument for implementing pro-poor social policy across the country, reaching between 26 and 30 percent of the population in each province.

Through continuous investment in data systems and technology, BISP has improved its delivery mechanisms, relying on the National Socio-Economic Registry to identify eligible households and biometric verification to ensure transparency. Beneficiaries receive payments only after thumbprint authentication through ATMs or point-of-sale agents, reducing leakage and strengthening public trust.

The program has also played a meaningful role in women’s empowerment, increasing their financial autonomy and participation in civic and electoral life. Its conditional cash transfer initiatives have contributed to measurable gains in school enrollment, health outcomes, and nutrition among poor households. During the catastrophic floods of 2022 alone, BISP disbursed $250 million in emergency assistance, providing roughly $90 each to 2.8 million affected families.

Over the past fifteen years, successive governments—supported by the World Bank and other development partners—have invested heavily in Pakistan’s social protection architecture, building robust legal and institutional frameworks. These systems are now expanding to the provincial level, with local governments developing complementary programs and delivery mechanisms.

For these efforts to succeed, social protection must be insulated from partisan rivalry. Federal and provincial governments need to strengthen programs across party lines, align them with national development agendas, and collaborate rather than compete. Provinces stand to benefit from BISP’s established data infrastructure and delivery systems, avoiding duplication and inefficiency. Politicizing pro-poor social policies may yield short-term political gains, but it risks undermining recovery, delaying reconstruction, and ultimately slowing Pakistan’s path toward sustainable development.