ISLAMABAD, OCT 1 – The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has demanded that PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz retract her recent statements and issue a public apology, sources said on Wednesday.
The matter was raised during a meeting between a PPP delegation and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad, highlighting widening cracks within the ruling coalition.
PPP demands apology from Maryam Nawaz
According to sources, PPP leaders expressed strong displeasure over Maryam Nawaz’s remarks, insisting that no party leader, worker, or official had issued any controversial statement against Punjab.
“If any of our workers, officials or leaders have criticized Punjab or written on social media, provide proof. If there is no proof, Maryam Nawaz should withdraw her statement and apologize,” the PPP delegation conveyed.
Ishaq Dar steps in to address concerns
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar listened to the PPP’s stance and assured the delegation that their reservations would be addressed.
Sources added that Dar had already contacted PPP leadership earlier, promising to help resolve the issue and ease tensions. The meeting was seen as part of the federal government’s efforts to prevent the disagreement from escalating further.
Law Minister briefs Dar on PPP’s reservations
Before the meeting, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar had informed Ishaq Dar about the PPP’s concerns. Dar then reached out to the party, assuring them that steps would be taken to bridge differences between the allies.
PML-N-PPP rift over provinces
The rift between the coalition partners intensified after PPP expressed displeasure over recent remarks by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. Sources revealed that the PPP has demanded Maryam withdraw her statements and issue an apology.
The war of words between coalition partners PML-N and PPP erupted last week after the former questioned the transparency of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), while the latter accused its partner of showing an “irresponsible attitude” by refusing to use the program’s data to compensate flood-affected people in Punjab.
Several PPP leaders chastised the PML-N for “attempting to make the BISP controversial”. Last Wednesday, MNA and First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari joined the debate, questioning the PML-N’s “unfounded concerns” about using the BISP data to provide relief to flood victims in Punjab.
“Over four million people have been impacted by the unprecedented floods in Punjab. The Benazir Income Support Programme is the fastest and most effective way to distribute relief. Not utilising one of the state’s key organisations, which has both the data and the capacity to deliver assistance, would be irresponsible,” Aseefa wrote on X.
Senior PPP leaders Nadeem Afzal Chan and Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, also chastised the Punjab government for rejecting BISP data to compensate flood victims.
During a Senate committee meeting, PPP Vice President Sherry Rehman also argued strongly in favour of using BISP to compensate flood victims.
PML-N reaction
Responding to the criticism, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said in a statement last Wednesday that some PPP members had done nothing but engage in “flood politics” and point-scoring.
“The PPP is trying to drag BISP into politics. The programme functions under its own law and mechanisms. To repeatedly link it with floods is nothing more than political point-scoring,” she said, adding that the PPP had no solutions for people’s problems and was only interested in “flood politics.”
A day earlier, the minister clarified that the Punjab government would issue relief cards to flood victims in their personal names, using its own funds rather than BISP assistance.
The war of words between the PPP and the PML-N widened on Tuesday, when PPP lawmakers walked out of the National Assembly in protest of remarks made the day before by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The spar had spread to water rights on the Indus River the day before, when Punjab’s chief minister told the PPP leadership to keep its advice to itself.
At a Faisalabad event on Monday, Maryam defended a contentious canal project on the Indus, dismissing Sindh’s objections and warning the PPP not to criticise Punjab’s development — remarks that prompted a PPP walkout from the National Assembly.
‘My water, my money, my will’
Taking the floor of the lower house, PPP’s Naveed Qamar stated: “Right now, our country is going through a severe flood situation. As we speak, there is a medium-level flood ongoing in my constituency. The onsluaght that came from Punjab has more or less subsided but many rural areas are still submerged. Standing crops were also submerged.”
He further said: “In the past few days, there have been statements — and I accept some were from our side — but the escalation that followed and the level to which things went is in no way appropriate.”
“‘Our water, our money, our will’ — what does that mean? What does that imply? This is our country and it belongs to all of us […]. Consider our suggestions; if you don’t like them, don’t accept them, but the response should not be what it has been,” he said, referring to Maryam’s words.
Meanwhile, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar apologized for the PPP’s distress over Maryam’s comments and called for a dialogue between the two sides.
‘It is better for provinces to share issues’
Meanwhile, in a video posted on the PPP’s X account, PPP leader Sherry Rehman stated that this issue should be addressed in both houses of Parliament.
“Whether it is the floods, the canals issue or regarding water reservoirs, we have never adopted an attitude towards Punjab where anyone could point fingers,” she stated.
“We have always spoken within the bounds of decency and acted with responsibility. So it is better that both the provinces share their issues with each other,” she added.
