Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfikar Bukhari and PPP Senator Sherry Rehman had a heated exchange on Twitter with each accusing the other of misinformation over the government's testing policy for Pakistanis returning from abroad.

The war of words started on Saturday when Rehman took to Twitter to claim that the federal government had done away with the requirement of testing all incoming Pakistanis, adding that 21 per cent of Pakistan's cases were "from outside" and that such a policy would make Pakistan "the new home, breeding ground for coronavirus."

Bukhari, responding to the senator's tweet, said the information was "wrong" and claimed that only 6pc of the country's cases were from passengers returning from abroad.

The PM's aide on overseas Pakistanis also went on to accuse the PPP senator of "stigmatising helpless overseas Pakistanis returning home under such harsh conditions for petty political gain".

Next morning, Rehman retorted with another series of tweets on the matter.

"Amazed that a crucial testing requirement at international borders is positioned as 'stigmatising' the poor overseas Pakistanis left stranded for months without resources," she wrote.

Backing up her earlier claim, the senator further said that Sindh, where her party is in government, had to test a flight returning from Jeddah on its own, and found 123 positive cases, as the federal government was not conducting any tests for returning citizens.

"I think it’s time to tell it like it is. PTI equates testing with stigma. That sums it up," Rehman said.

Responding to Rehman, Bukhari shared pictures of passengers purportedly giving samples for coronavirus testing at an airport and said:

"Only service PPP has provided to nation consistently is lying to divert attention from their blunders. Time to stop that & concentrate on people of Sindh instead. And stop labelling overseas Pakistanis for covid spread!"

But Rehman was quick to point out these picture had no date stamps, and "hoped" that testing would resume but added that "facts on the ground say otherwise."

The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis also responded to Rehman's tweet, saying that "it is a fact that we are testing everyone landing at airports", adding that the photos shared by Bukhari were from Islamabad airport.

Responding to the tweet, Rehman invited the ministry to share the evidence with the Senate. She added that she was informed that testing resumed after she highlighted the issue. "If it was a U-turn for the better [I] am good with that."

The exchange comes as Pakistan crossed the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus cases last night while the Sindh and federal governments remain at loggerheads over how to deal with the coronavirus crisis, each blaming the other of lapses.

The federal government had announced on June 4 that all inbound passengers will be allowed to return home instead of being quarantined while they wait for their coronavirus test results .

At that time, both Sindh and Punjab had objected to the policy. However, Islamabad had already started implementing it.