LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari inaugurated the direct cash transfer initiative under the Sindh government’s Wheat Growers Support Programme 2025, describing it as a pioneering milestone in the country’s history.

The financial assistance is aimed at enabling farmers to purchase DAP and urea fertilisers through the Benazir Hari Card.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said his party believed that “nation prospers when farmer prospers”.

“Our vision is to ensure that farmers and small growers are not burdened with the cost of purchasing DAP and urea,” he said.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari added that on his instructions, the chief minister of Sindh and his team have devised a comprehensive plan to provide financial assistance to farmers and small cultivators across the province for the purchase of DAP and urea fertilisers.

Inaugurates direct cash transfer initiative under Wheat Growers Support Programme 2025

Addressing the Benazir Hari Card-holders present at the ceremony, he said that the financial assistance has now been directly transferred to their accounts.

He said that under this programme, this assistance is being provided to the farmers owning between one and 25 acres of land. He added that “nearly 90 per cent of farmers in Sindh fall within this category.”

The PPP chairman said that farmers across the country have been facing great hardships in recent years. He noted that the burden of damage to the agricultural economy has been borne by farmers in Larkana, Punjab, and South Punjab.

Due to international agreements, provincial governments had been restrained from purchasing wheat or announcing support prices, he said, adding that, following his appeal, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared both a ‘climate emergency’ and an ‘agricultural emergency’ in the country, and also waived electricity bills for consumers living in flood-affected areas of Punjab.

He also appreciated the prime minister’s efforts to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund to allow the provincial governments to announce support prices and procure wheat for the benefit of farmers.

Constitutional amendments

Speaking about the country’s political situation and the proposed constitutional amendments, the PPP chairman said that “a lot is happening in Islamabad right now.”

He emphasised that the PPP considered the Constitution to be the “sacred trust of Quaid-i-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto”. He said that whether it was the Constitution of 1973 or the 18th Amendment, the PPP has always prioritised consensus-based legislation. “Whenever a constitutional amendment or law is made, political forces must find a middle ground,” he said.

He also said that whether it was the drafting of the 1973 Constitution or the passage of the 18th Amendment, the people of Larkana played a frontline role. “If the sweat and blood of workers form the foundation of our economy, then the same sweat and blood of the people of Larkana form the foundation of our Constitution,” he remarked. Referring to the 27th Amendment, he said that the “PPP has once again addressed a long-standing gap in the Constitution”.

The people of Larkana, he added, understand why this was essential “because they witnessed with their own eyes that the bench which sentenced Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to death had a majority of judges from one province, while the rest were from other provinces.

“It was not only an injustice to the Quaid-i-Awam but a blow to the federation itself. A dangerous message was sent that day — one whose consequences we are still facing,” he said.

The PPP chairman said that while people might hold differing opinions on certain clauses of the proposed amendments, there could be no disagreement on one fundamental point — that every province will have equal representation in the Constitutional Court.

“I congratulate all of you on this great achievement,” he said, adding: “I also want to thank you, for this has been a long and historic struggle. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto devoted 30 years of her life to restoring the Constitution of Quaid-i-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. After her martyrdom, you — the people — revived that Constitution through the 18th Amendment and fulfilled the promises of the Charter of Democracy. But there was one commitment that could not be realised at that time. Insha’Allah, I will go to Islamabad and ensure that it is finally fulfilled.”

The ceremony was also attended by PPP Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Minister for Agriculture Sardar Muhammad Bux Khan Mahar, former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, provincial ministers, members of the assembly and the party’s office-bearers.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2025