Karachi (TASSAWAR NEWS): Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has urged the federal government to immediately appeal for international assistance for flood-affected people.
In a message on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Bilawal welcomed the federal government’s decision to declare a climate and agriculture emergency on PPP’s demand, but expressed regret that no relief has yet been announced under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for the flood-hit districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and especially South Punjab.
He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had personally assured him that flood victims would receive relief through BISP.
Bilawal further stated that the government’s delay in making an international appeal for aid through the United Nations system is “incomprehensible,” pointing out that such appeals are standard practice during disasters worldwide, as Pakistan itself had done during the 2022 floods when he was foreign minister.
The PPP Chairman recalled that Pakistan had also sought global support during the 2010 floods and the 2005 earthquake, stressing that countries typically appeal to the international community within the first 72 hours of such natural disasters. “There is no justification for depriving millions of affected Pakistanis of global aid,” he added.
Bilawal demanded that the government immediately launch an international appeal, announcing that the PPP will present resolutions in all provincial assemblies, the National Assembly, and the Senate in support of flood victims.
He also shared that after his recent visits to Central Punjab, South Punjab, and Sindh, he met with the Sindh Chief Minister and the Provincial Agriculture Minister to discuss provincial-level assistance for the farming community.
The former foreign minister emphasized that the agriculture sector has been the hardest hit by the floods and expressed hope that the federal government will fully support efforts for its recovery.
