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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ruling coalition faced fresh strain on Wednesday after former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari summoned a high-level meeting of his party to decide its stance amid an escalating rift with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government at the center. 

The disagreement between the two main coalition partners — Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — has widened over how to distribute federal relief funds to victims of recent floods that have killed more than 1,000 people across Pakistan this year.

The PPP wants cash aid routed through the federal Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), a welfare scheme named after Bhutto-Zardari’s late mother and former premier Benazir Bhutto, while Punjab’s PML-N government insists on using its own provincial damage assessments.

Tensions intensified after Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the PM’s niece, defended her province’s right to control its water resources. The remarks angered the PPP-led government in Sindh province, which lies downstream along the Indus River, Pakistan’s main water source, and has long accused Punjab of hoarding water flows.

The escalating feud has raised questions about the durability of the coalition that has governed Pakistan since early 2024 under a post-election power-sharing arrangement.

“Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has summoned a meeting of the Pakistan People’s Party’s Central Executive Committee at Bilawal House Karachi. Important decisions regarding national politics will be made in the meeting,” the PPP said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto-Zardari’s father and co-chairman of the PPP, has also called Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, seen as close to Pakistan’s military leadership, to Karachi to help defuse tensions.

On Wednesday evening, the president met Naqvi, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq in Nawabshah in a meeting widely seen as part of efforts to defuse tensions within the ruling coalition.

PPP spokesperson Nadeem Afzal Chan told Arab News the party would discuss “the future of the alliance” at the upcoming meeting, scheduled for Oct. 18. 

“The party has made certain demands, including local government elections in Punjab, use of BISP data for flood relief, and support measures for farmers,” he said. “The party will continue to raise its voice in favor of these demands.”

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari, a close aide to Maryam Nawaz, rejected the PPP’s accusations and dismissed calls for an apology from the Punjab chief minister.

“Giving dictation and interference in administrative affairs is not acceptable,” Bukhari told Arab News. 

“They are our allies. They can advise us, but it is the prerogative of the government and the chief minister to accept or reject that advice. They should not use this advice as a blackmailing tool. Their recommendations are welcome, but the government will see what it can do.”

She said BISP data “is different than flood loss data,” explaining that Punjab’s government was calculating losses of property, livestock and crops independently.

“Maryam Nawaz will never apologize, and why would she apologize? Should she apologize for standing with Punjab? It is out of the question,” Bukhari added, when asked if the CM would withdraw her comments on water resources. 

While opposition politicians have urged Bhutto-Zardari’s party to move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Sharif, most analysts say such an escalation remains improbable.

After the February 2024 general elections, no single party won a parliamentary majority. Candidates backed by jailed former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ran as independents and secured the largest bloc of seats, but were unable to form a government. The PML-N and PPP subsequently stitched together a coalition through complex National Assembly arithmetic, bringing in smaller parties to reach a majority.

This coalition is widely believed to have the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, which has long played a decisive role in shaping political outcomes and continues to be seen as a stabilizing force behind the current setup.

“The tensions will ultimately die down as the government has full backing of the [military] establishment. Maryam Nawaz is unlikely to apologize for her statements, but there could be some sort of clarification,” senior journalist Mazhar Abbas said. 

Veteran journalist Suhail Warraich also said the row would likely end in reconciliation.

“The end will be that the two parties will patch up, nothing more,” Warraich told Arab News. 

“This will happen without any apology from Maryam Nawaz. These issues create noise but rarely lead to breakups.”