Lahore:
The political spit between the PML-N and the PPP which governs respectively on the provinces of Punjab and Sindh initially result from disagreement on the use of the Benazir income support program (BISP) for the help of the victims of the floods.
However, the altercation between the two parties – whose marriage of convenience supports the current political exemption – does not intensify on Monday, while the chief minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz, raised the specter of the construction of the canal of Cholistan highly controversial in a speech that the PPP denounced as “hateful and divided”.
Addressing the launch of electric buses in Faisalabad, Maryam said that she would not bow to “unjustified criticisms” and referred to the future with the project of Cholistan Canal – a movement that has already stretched the coalition partnership.
By taking a direct blow on the PPP, Maryam said: “What is our own water and our own money, we want to irrigate our own land in the Cholistan desert?”
On the other side of the border, where, according to her, there are no quarrels, they have already irrigated their desert and harvest agricultural products. “If they can do it, why can’t we? We do not fly any of their water.” She accused the PPP of opposing each initiative of his government, from the alleviation of electricity to irrigation projects.
“I have been silent before, but now they criticize us for having used the resources of the Punjab to help our people. This money belongs to the inhabitants of Punjab. If we do not spend them, then what are we supposed to spend?” She asked.
Maryam said that she didn’t need anyone to serve Punjab.
“Regarding the inhabitants of Punjab and Punjabis, we will not leave you easily,” she said. She criticized the PPP because, in his words, “attacking the Prime Minister and myself” simply for refusing to ask for international aid.
“Unfortunately, they think that begging is the solution to each problem. Each province draws its share from the NFC. If it should not be spent for our people, then what is it for?”
Responding to PPP’s objection to the fact of not using BISP data, Maryam said that the BISP is intended for small cash disbursements to disadvantaged, while the government’s rehabilitation program was much more substantial.
“The BISP gives 10,000 rupees, but our government aims to give 1 million rupees to those who have lost their homes and 500,000 rupees to those who have lost their cattle. Half a million people have lost their house. Dozens of teams are already on the ground to conduct a losses inquiry,” she said.
Net remarks have led to strong reactions from PPP leaders.
Sindh Minister of Information, Sharjeel Inam Memon, expressed a “deep disappointment” in an article on social networks, describing Maryam’s comments as “a divisor and hateful rhetoric” and promising a detailed refutation at a press conference on Tuesday.
The central PPP information secretary Shazia Marri also retaliated, declaring: “The leaders do not issue threats – they show service and performance. The PPP has always chosen patience despite criticism.”
She noted that the president of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto, had called for immediate relief through BISP, recalling that in 2022, the floods received 25,000 rupees per family through the program, and in 2025, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also relied on the BISP data for the Ramzan package.
“We will continue to focus on farmers and people affected by floods in the Sindh. The leaders are used; they do not threaten.
His remarks caused a counterattack of the Minister of Punjab for Azma Bokhari Information and Culture, who accused the PPP of acting as a “know-how”.
“They are the ones who emit dictations and at the same time threats. Where you do not have a mandate, do not try to force a mosque on borrowed land. Such attempts will never succeed,” she warned.
Azma also said that if Bilawal wanted to prove his performance, he should do so in the Sindh where the PPP governs. “The Punjab people have given Maryam Nawaz their mandate. She understands their problems and already addresses them effectively,” said Bokhari.
She laughed at PPP’s dependence on BISP allowances: “The Punjab government will not engage in the token policy by distributing 12,000 Rs 12,000. Such lollipops should be reserved for the Sindh.”
She reminded the leaders of the PPP that “it is not 2022 but 2025”, adding that the Punjab was firm on its development and well-being program and would not bow to external pressure.
When asked by L’Express PK Press Club if the Punjab government was actually planning to rekindle the cholistan canal coupling project, Azma replied briefly: “Let’s see.”
