Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed "to continue" the subsidy on fertilisers, Radio Pakistan reported.

The latest development comes after the Pakistan Peoples Party criticised the Nawaz government for withdrawing the subsidy on fertilisers, terming it “a callous and inhuman decision and a conspiracy against poor and under-privileged rural population”.

The federal government had, however, defended the move, saying the subsidy had been withdrawn after the amount allocated for it exhausted.

Nawaz has now said that all basic facilities will be provided to farmers in an effort to improve Pakistan's gross domestic product.

He said that agriculture is the backbone of the national economy and farmers play a significant role in strengthening it.

'Cheap political mileage'

Former president and PPP-Parliamentarians chief Asif Ali Zardari had said in a statement issued by the party’s media centre that the government would only compensate the farmers of Punjab, a measure harmful to inter-provincial harmony.

Only to “achieve cheap political mileage”, he had stated, the government had on one hand withdrawn the subsidy of Rs400 per bag on fertiliser and, on the other, was secretly compensating farmers of their own political constituency.

“The federal government is playing with fire as such measures will create provincial rifts and disharmony,” Zardari had warned.

He had demanded an immediate reversal of the decision and said that his party would stand by farmers of the entire country.

Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan had told the Senate on Thursday that a request had been received from the Punjab government to continue subsidy on fertiliser. A meeting will be held on Monday to review the issue.

He had further said that the subsidy scheme was launched in 2016 at a cost of Rs27.96 billion with equal share from the federal and provincial governments.