reiterates the call for BISP to provide help to flood victims. On Saturday, three more PPP leaders denounced the PML-N, specifically its Punjabi administration, for refusing to employ the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to give flood victims aid. PPP Central Information Secretary Nadeem Afzal Chan asked what assistance the government has given victims during a press briefing in Lahore. Additionally, he charged that the government was mismanaging programs to assist farmers. According to Chan, 310,000 animals had died in the recent floods, and farmers were still waiting in long lines for assistance. “Had proper local institutions been in place, the post-flood situation would have been significantly different,” he said.
He rejected the government’s Rs20,000-per-acre settlement, citing major disparities with India over electricity rates, fertilizer prices, and currency strength. The PPP leader also attacked the economic policies of the federal government, claiming that it was using the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a cover. He said that elites and bureaucrats, not elected officials, are making important decisions and that “you made the IMF an excuse, which Saad Rafique [of the PML-N] has already tweeted about.” Chan highlighted projects like the Rs55.9 billion Sindh Hari Card, the building of 2.1 million homes, and a Rs9 billion fund given by Bilawal Bhutto for Multan and DI Khan in order to compare the policies of the PPP government in Sindh with those of the PML-N in Punjab.
Separately, PPP Senator Palwasha Khan said that politics shouldn’t be played amid disasters in Islamabad and vehemently denounced the Punjab government’s rhetoric against the PPP, its coalition partner. She questioned whether the federal government did not apply for loans from the IMF and challenged Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s assertion that her government would not offer assistance.
