Dera Ghazi Khan/Karachi:
A bitter exchange of words between leaders of the two federal coalition partners on how to help tens of thousands of flood -affected people in Punjab have put the underlying tensions simmering under the veneer of political unit.
On Thursday, the second consecutive day marked public sparring between PPP and PML-N over the flooding efforts of the PMLJAB government. PPP claims that Benazir Income Support Program (Bisp) is the most effective and fastest mechanism to help flood victims, while the PML-N government in Punjab insists on channeling help through its own “emergency card” initiative.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday criticized both the federal and Punjab government-led by PML-N-N-not to have issued an appeal on international assistance. Main Minister Maryam Nawaz repeated that Punjab “would not ask for help.
When he spoke at the inauguration of an electric bus project in Dera Ghazi Khan, Maryam PPP accused of politicizing Punjab’s flood crisis. She rejected the categorical party’s calls to insert bisp into the province and rejected it as inadequate to tackle the scale of the disaster.
“Bisp offers only RS10,000 in aid while aiming to provide help up to RS1 million,” she said, questioning how such a small amount could compensate for losses that run into hundreds of thousands of rupees. She reiterated that Punjab’s own resources would be used exclusively for its people.
“I don’t need any help. The money belonging to the people of Punjab will only be spent on them,” she declared. In a sharp reprimand for Bilawal, she added: “Keep your advice to yourself – we will control Punjab.”
Maryam said she did not want to comment on the situation in Sindh, but directed pointed remarks against the leader of the reigning party there. “Bilawal is like a younger brother, but I would advise him to first guide his own party’s spokespersons. Focus on your own province and keep your suggestions to yourself – we’ll take care of Punjab,” she added.
She defended her rejection of appealing to global help. “People ask me why I don’t ask the world for help. I’m Nawaz Sharif’s daughter – I won’t go in hand before anyone help. How can anyone even respecting person talk about begging for help?”
Maryam also accused rivals of exploiting South Punjab as a slogan without delivering results. “Those who continue to invoke South Punjab also had the chance to control here, but still it was Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif who did real development work,” she said.
“Previously, South Punjab got nothing but slogans. We perform practical work here. In schools in South Punjab, children even have milk,” she added. She warned that it repeatedly raised the South Punjab question to draw a dividing line.
Her remarks followed Bilawal’s strong defense of Bisp, which he described as Pakistan’s only credible and internationally recognized mechanism for transparent and immediate aid distribution. He called on the PML-N government to rethink its decision.
The PPP chairman claimed that governments around the world played a “frontline role” in flood relief and rehabilitation. He criticized the reluctance of the federal government to use Bisp and questioned its approach.
“The recent flood has destroyed Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh’s river belt, but Punjab has been the hardest hit, especially South Punjab, where the destruction is historic,” he said.
“Why make flood relief a question about ego? Bisp was used during previous floods and during Covid-19. If refused today, what fault is it of South Punjab? When people are homeless and live on the streets, why can’t they be helped?”
Bilawal criticized those who opposed bisp and said they did not understand its effectiveness. He recalled that PML-N had praised the program in the past. “If now they have taken a U-turn, they must explain why.”
By associating his attitude to a wider relief effort, Bilawal welcomed the Prime Minister of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s announcement of an agricultural and climate -emergency situation, which he said was made in response to his appeal.
He called the federal government’s waiver of electricity bills for households for flooding a positive step, but pressed for further action. He urged the government to seek international assistance and noted that Pakistan had approached global partners in previous crises.
Bilawal also called on the center to renegotiate terms with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and said the current conditions refused farmers’ fair support prices. He warned that the country, without immediate action, was facing serious risk of food security.
The PPP chairman announced that Sindh’s provincial government would provide its own relief package for farmers through a “Hari card.” If the federal government joined, he said, the package could be expanded to cover more of the agricultural sector.
He emphasized that Punjab’s suffering justified urgent and coordinated actions, not political disputes. He maintained that Bisp remained the most effective and transparent method available for the provision of assistance directly to the citizens.
