The PPP has once again launched an attack on the ruling party in Punjab — the PML-N — for allegedly failing to provide relief to the people affected by recent floods as well as its economic and agricultural policies.
Three more PPP leaders on Saturday criticized the PML-N, particularly its government in Punjab also over its refusal to use the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to provide relief funds to flood victims.
Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, PPP Central Information Secretary Nadeem Afzal Chan questioned what relief the government had provided victims. He also accused the government of mishandling farmer support schemes.
Chan said 310,000 livestock had perished in the recent floods and the long queues of farmers still awaited aid. “Had proper local institutions been in place, the post-flood situation would have been significantly different,” he argued.
He dismissed the government’s Rs20,000-per-acre compensation as insufficient, pointing to stark differences with India on currency strength, fertiliser costs, and electricity tariffs.
The PPP leader also targeted the federal government’s economic policies, accusing it of hiding behind the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“You made the IMF an excuse, which Saad Rafique [of the PML-N) has already tweeted about,” he said, adding that key decisions are being made by bureaucrats and elites, not elected representatives.
Chan contrasted PML-N’s Punjab government policies with the PPP government’s policy in Sindh, highlighting initiatives such as the Rs55.9 billion Sindh Hari Card, construction of 2.1 million houses, and a Rs9 billion fund allocated by Bilawal Bhutto for Multan and DI Khan.
Separately, PPP’s Senator Palwasha Khan strongly condemned the language used by the Punjab government against the PPP, its coalition partner, stating that politics should not be played during times of disaster in Islamabad.
She criticized Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz’s claim that her government would not extend hands for aid, questioning if the federal government does not seek loans from the IMF.
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