• Maryam asserts Punjab’s right to build canals, calling it ‘my water, my money’
• Azma Bokhari rejects using BISP
• Aseefa calls Punjab govt stance ‘irresponsible’

LAHORE/TOBA TEK SINGH: No ceasefire in sight between the two coalition partners — PML-N and PPP — as feud between the alliance intensified on Monday, when Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz blasted the Pakistan Peoples Party over disputes on “very sensitive” canal issue and flood relief.

The war of words, which began over flood compensation, has now expanded to water rights on the Indus River, as the Punjab’s chief minister told the PPP leadership to keep its advice to itself.

At an event inaugurating an electric bus service in Faisalabad on Monday, Maryam dismissed Sindh-based objections to a contentious canal project on the Indus River, insisting Punjab was entitled to develop waterways for its people. “If Punjab wants to construct canals for its water, why are you bothered?” CM Maryam said. “It is Punjab’s water.”

“I wouldn’t have stolen water. I would have used it to create waterways and develop Cholistan,” she added.

Her remarks were a direct response to fierce opposition from the PPP-led government in the Sindh over a massive infrastructure project involving six new canals on the Indus River.

The project, which was inaugurated by Maryam and Chief of the Army Staff Gen Asim Munir on Feb 15, was touted by Punjab as a game-changer for irrigating the vast Cholistan desert.

Following intense protests from political activists in Sindh, the federal government led by Maryam’s uncle Shehbaz Sharif, had agreed to put the project on the “back burner” until a consensus could be reached among the provinces at the Council of Common Interests.

Meanwhile, Maryam during her speech, warned the PPP against targeting Punjab’s uplift. “If my opponents (PPP) talk about me, I don’t mind, but if they target Punjab and its progress, I will not tolerate and confront them even at their doorstep (Sindh),” she said.

In a swift reaction, PPP lawmaker Shazia Marri accused the CM of fanning provincial tensions at a precarious time.

“Pakistan cannot afford hollow narratives and slogans with narrow-mindedness and divisiveness,” Ms Marri said.

The political sniping has done little to reassure those affected by the floods, with PPP lawmaker Kasim Gillani, in his post on X, urged authorities to declare Multan, Muzaffargarh, Jhang and Kasur as disaster zones, enabling farmers to defer loans and receive urgent compensation.

Meanwhile, compounding the complexity of the situation is a parallel disagreement over how to deliver aid effectively to the victims of Punjab’s devastating floods.

The PPP has lobbied for the use of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), saying it is the most efficient way to reach millions of affected families.

“Over four million people have been impacted by the unprecedented floods in Punjab. The BISP is the fastest and most effective way to distribute relief,” said first lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari. “Not utilising one of the state’s key organisations, which has data and capacity to deliver assistance, would be irresponsible.”

Punjab government has bristled at the suggestion, portraying it as political interference. “Where the PPP does not have a mandate, it should not try to forcibly build a mosque on borrowed land. Such attempts will never succeed,” retorted Punjab information minister Azma Bokhari.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2025