Ice melts as PM Shehbaz contacts Bilawal to defuse gap between Sindh and Punjab

After days of a heated war of words, there appears to be a thaw in the tense relationship between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reached out to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

According to the PPP media cell, both leaders discussed the current political situation, the ongoing flood crisis and foreign policy issues.

The development followed a meeting in Nawabshah between President Asif Ali Zardari and a government delegation comprising Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. It aimed to ease tensions between the two parties after growing friction between the leaders of the Sindh and Punjab governments.

Tensions had risen to such an extent that the PPP staged strikes in the Senate and National Assembly sessions and the party even hinted at sitting on the opposition seats in the Punjab Assembly. PPP central leader Sherry Rehman even warned that the government could lose its majority in the Senate without the party’s support.

Despite the discord, President Zardari maintained a reconciliatory tone, urging calm and dialogue. He also contacted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and asked him to mediate between the allies to help defuse the crisis.

Amid heated exchanges, key political figures from both sides including Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari, PPP leader Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab joined the fray together with other local leaders.

Interestingly, the verbal spat between the coalition partners began over the use of the Benazir Income Support Program to provide support to flood-affected people in Punjab.

The PPP has long advocated the proposition that the BISP would be the most appropriate way to help flood victims; However, the Punjab government is opposed to the idea. The provincial government insists the government’s flood relief efforts were going well.

First lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari warned that it would be “unfair not to use” the BISP, which she said was the “most effective way” to distribute aid.

His comments came a day after Bokhari revealed that the provincial government would issue “relief cards” to flood victims in their names from its own resources instead of using the BISP to help them.

Aseefa wrote in

However, Bokhari heavily criticized the PPP for dragging the BISP into the floods. “No one wants to abolish BISP. The question is: why do they want to use it during floods?” Bokhari mentioned. “Repeatedly dragging it into flood politics is exactly what we call politicization.”

He accused the PPP of ignoring the interests of the people of Punjab and resorting to flood politics. He defended the performance of the Punjab government during the floods and said that even Bilawal had praised Maryam.

Questioning the role of PPP in Punjab, the provincial information minister said: “When will you, as long as you live in Punjab, fight for the case of Punjab? Do you want the people of Punjab to be deprived of wheat, flour and bread?”

He added: “If you were able to do something, you wouldn’t be sitting at home telling us where the flood was going to occur or where the embankment was going to break. Those decisions are made by governments depending on the situation and circumstances.”