ISLAMABAD – Stung by fresh US criticism of its ability to defeat the Taliban, Pakistan is turning to women in a latest bid to quell the terror threat and reduce poverty.
The government’s Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is designating $750 million, nearly half from US coffers, to create jobs and alleviate poverty by providing women with funds for food, health and training in the tribal belt. The region is the world’s premier breeding ground for Taliban and al Qaeda militants. But when a woman wearing a burqa blew herself up killing at least 43 people at a UN food handout point in Bajaur last December, alarm bells started ringing that the Taliban were now recruiting the fairer sex.
Rarely educated and mostly confined to home, tribal women are a forgotten half of society and are frequently targeted by militants. Girls’ schools have been blown up, while extremists reportedly barred nearly half a million women from voting in the last election in 2008. “Poverty is the main reason for extremism and terrorism,” said Farzana Raja, head of the BISP. “We will provide these people with skills instead of Kalashnikovs.”
Despite women’s marginal position in tribal society, the Benazir fund insists women are better beneficiaries of aid than men, who may be more inclined to waste handouts. Women accepted on the scheme because of straightened circumstances initially receive a monthly stipend of 1,000 rupees, then 300,000 rupees to help fund self-employment and complete family health insurance. Although the programme has already registered 3.5 million women elsewhere in Pakistan since October 2010, Raja told AFP that the tribal belt is the main concern.
