PESHAWAR, Dec 5: The Benazir Income Support Programme, a federal government initiative for low income groups, will extend financial assistance to displaced persons of Bajaur and Swat regions.

Each displaced family, both living in camps and with relatives, will be given Rs1,000 per month with immediate effect, announced MNA Farzana Raja, chairperson of the support programme, at a press conference here on Friday. Ms Raja visited different relief camps in Peshawar along with a media team that accompanied her from Islamabad.

The announcement, she said, came as a follow up of the directives of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani for providing immediate relief to the internally displaced people.

The ongoing military operation has displaced more than 15,500 families in Bajaur and Swat, of which 9,000 are living with their relatives in different parts of the country. The remaining families have been accommodated in camps in Charsadda, Mardan, Dir, Nowshera and Peshawar.

The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority, will establish a special counter to facilitate women residing in the camps in attaining national identity cards.

Upon filling in the application forms and attaining NICs, the female member of a displaced family would get Rs1,000 per month, said Ms Raja.