Coalition rift deepens in Pakistan as Punjab launches flood loss survey

Islamabad [Pakistan], September 28 (ANI): As the Punjab government on Saturday launched a survey to assess losses from recent floods, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to provide immediate relief to victims through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Dawn reported.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PPP, coalition partners at the Centre and in Punjab, remain divided over the mechanism of aid distribution. The Punjab government has insisted on using its own resources, while the PPP has pushed for channeling support through BISP.
At a press conference in Islamabad, PPP Secretary General Humayun Khan, Senator Palwasha Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leader Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha criticised the Punjab administration. They argued that BISP already had the necessary data and was the most effective mechanism to reach flood-hit families.
Humayun Khan said people were enduring severe hardships and recalled that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had visited flood-affected areas in Punjab. He reiterated the party's demand for relief through BISP.
Palwasha Khan condemned "unfortunate remarks" by 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 called for waiving the electricity bills of flood-affected families until they fully recover. She added the scale of damage was immense and not yet fully estimated. "Why does the name of BISP cause so much pain," she asked, recalling that funds had been disbursed earlier during Ramazan.
Without elaborating, she noted that when the Punjab chief minister faced challenges, "the most vocal voices of support came from Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and the PPP."
Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha accused both PML-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of failing to support flood victims. He said floods in KP were triggered by cloudbursts that wiped out villages and killed hundreds.
"The prime minister and the chief minister came for just one day, distributed cheques and left," Bacha said, terming the role of both governments "disappointing."
"The Punjab chief minister says they do not need the PPP's advice. But when the PML-N government is in trouble, it remembers the PPP and its leadership. When the PML-N wants votes on a bill, it turns to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari," he said. "If Maryam Nawaz is the daughter of Nawaz Sharif, then don't forget that Bilawal Bhutto is the son of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and the grandson of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto."
According to Dawn, the Punjab government refrained from giving a timeline for either completing the survey or beginning compensation payments for over four million affected residents.
At the launch of the Punjab Flood Survey Campaign, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said 2,200 survey teams comprising 10,000 members of the Pakistan Army, revenue, agriculture and livestock departments and district administration would conduct the survey.
She announced that affected families would receive PKR 1 million for a destroyed house, PKR 500,000 for a partially damaged house, PKR 500,000 for loss of livestock and PKR 20,000 per acre up to 12 acres for farmers.
"We will make sure that every single flood victim is compensated and resettled. These survey teams are my eyes, ears and hands," she said, describing them as the "sons and daughters of Punjab."
Indirectly responding to criticism from PTI and PPP over what they called her "flood photo/video shoot," Maryam Nawaz said: "If someone is working, the camera should show it because the public deserves to know what its CM is doing. We don't seek the camera as the real work is happening, it speaks for itself."
She added that Punjab was working while other provinces were busy criticising it. "I say Punjab is progressing and that is why criticism exists. We close our ears to negativity and keep our eyes fixed on the goal," she remarked, adding that people from other provinces wished to live in Punjab.
The chief minister also criticised PPP for suggesting the use of BISP data. "Distributing PKR 10,000 to each flood-affected person through BISP data will do no good," she said. PPP leaders, including Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, had earlier urged Punjab to use the BISP database instead of a lengthy survey to deliver relief, Dawn reported.
As the row continued, senior PPP leader Nadeem Afzal Chan wrote on X: "Punjab has emerged as the biggest borrower among all provinces, securing a staggering PKR 405 billion loan from the State Bank in just the first 38 days (July 1 to August 8, 2025) of the current fiscal year (2025-26)."
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari threatened to sue Chan under defamation laws and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). "Chan Sahib, you were a decent man, but for the past few days it seems you are either under mental stress or deliberately running fake propaganda against Punjab," she said.
Bokhari stressed that facts about the loan issue had already been shared with the media in August. "Now repeating this false narrative falls under Peca," she said, adding that under the Punjab Defamation Bill, Chan would have to prove the "fabricated news" in court. Dawn reported that Bokhari warned legal action would be taken if required. (ANI)