KARACHI: The tensions between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) continue to escalate over flood rehabilitation efforts.
In this sense, the President Asif Ali Zardari held a telephonic conversation with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to discuss the growing rift between the Sindh and Punjab governments.
President Zardari contacted the interior minister and summoned him to Karachi for an urgent meeting to address the political strain.
Furthermore, the development comes amid a war of words between leaders of the two coalition partners, a day earlier, Sindh’s Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon accused the Punjab government of targeting the prime minister under the pretext of criticising the Sindh administration.
He alleged that certain elements were attempting to create conditions that would push the PPP to withdraw its support for the federal government.
Meanwhile, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari dismissed the accusations, questioning whether the Sindh government was “playing politics over the flood victims in Punjab.”
In this regard, the controversy was created on September 25 when PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari criticised the federal government’s handling of flood relief efforts, saying that assistance to victims should not have been made a matter of ego.
He urged the government to channel aid through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and to seek international assistance to expand relief efforts.
In reply, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz defended her government’s initiatives, stating that “BISP is not the only solution for everything,” and focused on that Punjab’s development projects spoke for themselves.
The disagreement led to a walkout by PPP lawmakers from the National Assembly on September 30, with senior PPP leader Naveed Qamar warning that continued disrespect could force the party to move to the opposition benches.
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President Zardari’s move to personally intervene is being seen as an attempt to ease mounting political tensions and restore cooperation within the ruling coalition.
