Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Friday said that she would “never apologise” over a recent outburst which escalated into a rift between her party, the PML-N, and its coalition partner, the PPP.
The war of words between the two sides — kicked off over flood compensation — expanded to water rights[1] on the Indus River as the Punjab chief minister told the PPP leadership to keep its advice to itself. In response, the PPP, the ruling party in Sindh, had lawmakers stay away[2] from the National Assembly and Senate sittings to protest the diatribe.
On Wednesday, PPP and PML-N bigwigs met[3] in Islamabad to find a way out of the row, with the former asking Maryam to “rethink her tone” while speaking about water rights of the provinces.
Addressing a ceremony in Lahore, the Punjab CM censured the PPP for hurling “wrongful criticism” at the Punjab government amid devastating floods sweeping the country.
“When floods swept through Punjab, the people of one province not only wrongly criticised the Punjab government, but they also rubbed salt in the wound,” she said. “If there is any issue in any province, do we level false allegations at press conferences? Do we spread lies? What we do is help them.”
The Punjab CM said she called KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and offered any assistance she could to him during the floods, despite him being a political opponent.
“Those in other provinces are my Pakistani brothers and sisters; whenever a CM likes a project I’ve done and asks me for the technology, I immediately send a minister and secretary. So when people say that I celebrate anything bad happening in another province, it is upsetting,” she added.
“I want to tell [President] Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal [Bhutto-Zardari] that I was upset when the people of Punjab were in distress. We saw Bilawal doing those three press conferences, where he mocked Punjab and spread lies that things were not being done.
She added that she remained quiet about Bilawal’s remarks because she “did not want to get into a fight” because she was “serving the people of Punjab 24 hours a day and did not have the time”.
“I am not going to leave my people alone,” CM Maryam said. “If you talk, I’ll respond befittingly.
“I was asked why I didn’t take money from BISP [Benazir Income Support Programme] — I did not want the data of poor people, but the data of the people affected by floods,” she added. “I have 10,000 people in the field going door-to-door to perform damage assessments, so that we can compensate them.”
CM Maryam referenced the PPP’s walkouts from parliament, asking why she needed to apologise.
“That spokesperson who criticised the Punjab government and politicised the suffering of Punjab’s people is the one who needs to apologise,” she said. “If I respond to anyone, I raise my voice for my people. Maryam Nawaz Sharif will never apologise.”
The CM said that Punjabis love their land and that the people’s self-respect was also her responsibility.
“Think 100 times over before talking negatively about Punjab.”
She then moved to the canals issue, stating that she was ready to pay for the canals project and “brought the case of Punjab’s people before the CCI [Council of Common Interests]”.
The now-shelved canals project had turned out to be a cause of contention[4] between the Punjab and Sindh, which are governed by the PML-N and PPP, respectively.
“That water is the right of Punjab’s farmers, but it was politicised,” the CM continued.
However, the chief minister distanced herself from controversial remarks[5] made by YouTuber Rizwan Razi, also known as Razi Dada, who had made derogatory remarks about the people of Sindh.
“He said something inappropriate and I cannot endorse it,” she said. “Even he realised it. He was summoned to a Senate standing committee, where he apologised unconditionally.
“When someone apologises, you forgive them, right? But these people [the PPP] made fun of him. Still, I remained silent. However, I will not let this happen to another person in Punjab.”
References
- ^ water rights (www.dawn.com)
- ^ stay away (www.dawn.com)
- ^ met (www.dawn.com)
- ^ cause of contention (www.dawn.com)
- ^ controversial remarks (www.dawn.com)