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ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: As the Punjab government on Saturday launched a survey to assess the losses caused by recent floods, the PPP urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to accept its demand for providing immediate relief to the flood-affected people through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
The PML-N and the PPP — coalition partners at the Centre and in Punjab — have been at odds over how to help the flood victims, with the former’s government in Punjab insisting on using its own resources, while the latter is adamant about channelling the aid through the BISP.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, PPP Secretary General Humayun Khan, Senator Palwasha Khan and the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leader Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha criticised the Punjab government, saying that the BISP already had the required data and was the most effective mechanism to assist flood-hit families.
Humayun Khan said the people were enduring severe hardships due to the floods, recalling that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had visited flood-affected areas in Punjab, and reiterated the demand for immediate relief through the BISP.
Palwasha Khan expressed regret over what she termed “unfortunate remarks” from some PML-N ministers against the PPP despite being coalition partners. “It is regrettable that the Punjab government has used such language for its coalition partner. The Punjab government says it will not bow down to anyone. Then why go to the IMF? The impression is being created that Punjab belongs to one party. Punjab is not the domain of any one party; similarly, no province is the exclusive domain of any party. All provinces of Pakistan belong to all Pakistanis,” she said.
She proposed that the electricity bills of flood-affected families be waived until they fully recover. She said the scale of the damage caused by the floods was immense and could not yet be fully estimated.
She recalled that BISP funds had previously been disbursed during the holy month of Ramazan and asked: “Why does the name of BISP cause so much pain?”
Without elaborating, she said that when the Punjab chief minister faced challenges, “the most vocal voices of support came from Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and the PPP”.
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