Lahore/Karachi:
A fresh word war broke out between the Punjab and Sindh ministers on Saturday, when the tensions simmered over the federal government’s controversial channel project -just a day after PPP President Bilawal Bhutto -Ze, the scheme condemned as “one -sided.”
In a talk with the media in Lahore, Punjab -Information Minister Azma Bukhari hit Bilawal and said his rally rhetoric did not offer any real solution.
“If he can have time to demand with the federal government over provincial budgets,” she said, “then he should also roll up his sleeves to tackle the channel question.”
Double Down pointed out Bukhari that the project had already crossed the bureaucracy with the president’s consent.
“It’s documented, it’s signed,” she emphasized, making it clear that the foundation had official support.
She accused PPP of playing politics with water and called the move “unlucky” and asked Bilawal’s choice of scene.
“Bilawal Bhutto should not talk about water solutions while standing at rallies,” she said. “Before she makes accusations, you must check the facts. This is channel policy,” she claimed.
Sindh ministers
Meanwhile, Sindh -Art irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro strongly responded to Bukhari’s comments on the controversial channel projects.
In a speech with journalists in Karachi, Shoro said, “We don’t politicize the question. The population of Sindh and PPP has a position: No to the controversial channels. Sindh’s people protest and you call that politics?”
He said Bilawal had warned the federal government that if the decision was not reversed, PPP would stand with the people, not with Shehbaz Sharif.
“Azma Bukhari doesn’t even understand the ABC for the water issue. Instead of defending the project, PML-N should bury it permanently,” he said.
Shoro said Sindh was facing acute water shortages, not only for agriculture, but also for drinking water. “Our countries are barren, our farmers are concerned and our livestock thirsty.”
He called on PM Shehbaz Sharif to reject the controversial channel projects directly and called for an immediate meeting of the Council for Common Interest (CCI) to permanently shoot the plan.
“If the Prime Minister does not finish this project, PPP will to some extent go with the people of Sindh to stop it. The entire irrigation system in Sindh depends on the Indus River,” he said.
Similar questioning of the Punjab Minister’s remarks, Sindh Senior Minister of Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon, her understanding of the president’s constitutional powers.
“Do you have it [Bokhari] read the constitution? Do you know how to read the Constitution? “Memon said sharply during a medias interview in Karachi.
He also asked where it was stated in the Constitution that the president had the authority to approve such development projects.
“If the federal government has sent it to the president for approval, it was an incompetent step,” he added.
“It’s not his mandate, we’re tired of telling you this 100 times,” Memon said, stressing that the federal government had not followed the correct procedural route.
“If you have authentication documents, you must be able to bring the fabricated minutes to the meeting,” he continued.
Inquiring the notion that PPP had not published its intention to leave the coalition government if its concerns were not treated, Memon replied, “When did we say we would advertise it about a person’s behavior?”
“He [Bilawal] Said we are with the people, we are not with the Shehbaz government, “Memon said, quoting the PPP chairman.
The Green Pakistan initiative, with an estimated cost of $ 3.3 billion, aims to construct six channels to irritate 1.2 million acres dry soil in southern Punjab. However, the project has met with growing resistance – first from Sindhi nationalist groups and now from the PPP itself.
Five of the channels are planned by the river Indus, while the sixth will be built along the Sutlej River, which is intended to supply about 4,120 CuseC’s water to the Cholistan desert region of Punjab.
‘Chaos Party’
During his speech in Lahore, Bukhari also took an ironing against political opponents, especially PTI, and said, “YouTubers and Chaos Party cannot mage Pakistan’s relief. Those who had ties with IPPs and electricity companies are now making noise.”
She added that Punjab’s government was grateful for Prime Minister Shehbaz to contain the sharp increase in electricity bills.
“The season of good news has begun and those who once wrote letters to the IMF are those who are disturbed by this progress,” Bukhari said in a blurred reference to PTI.
She accused earlier PTI policies of trying to derail the IMF program and “make the country into Sri Lanka,” a plan she said, Shehbaz Sharif successfully foiled.
By turning her guns against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Bukhari said, “KP’s massive corruption is no secret, even their own leaders tell the stories. YouTubers and the media can’t ignore the circus ‘Chor Chor’.
She asked CM KP Ali Amin Gandapur’s statement of RS100 million income while claiming he spent RS750 million on the party. “Were the illegal funds used for party work?” She asked.
She claimed RS8.66 billion damage to forests on forests in Chitral, saying that KP lacked schools and medicine. “Registrations show that the KP Health Department bought the RS20.8 million worth of gloves, yet they are missing in hospitals. RS130 million were used by district health hospitals without registration of it,” she said.
She also accused the KP government of massive corruption in wheat purchases and claimed that RS2 billion was paid to party workers in the form of mosque funds.
She claimed that Gandapur’s position as CM is in danger when “his own party calls him corrupt”.
She rejected the notion that a party’s internal committee could revise public funds and it can only emphasize the neighbor or relevant authorities. “Their own leaders, including Swati, Junaid Akbar and Asad Qaiser, talk about each other’s corruption. Who will answer for that?” She asked.
Bukhari demanded the federal government’s account of RS600 billion intended for law and order. “There is no CTD in KP. Don’t issue threats – we’re not afraid. First show where the money went before they spoke NFC,” she said.