We work, others criticise: Maryam Nawaz hits back at critics

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said those criticising her government should have worked for flood victims in their own provinces.

She said that Punjab was the first province to assist 2.5 million people during the recent floods.

Addressing a ceremony launching of a survey drive for flood victims, she said her government had stayed up nights to help victims.

“When pictures are taken, people realise the government is standing with them. Those who work dare to face cameras,” she said.

Maryam Nawaz said that Punjab was delivering while others were busy criticising. “It is easy to sit in offices and pose for photographs. Remaining silent without working is no service,” she said.

She told the gathering that she wanted the public to know their chief minister was standing with them.

“Instead of sleeping in palaces, the province’s rulers are working. Within two to three months, Punjab will look as if floods never happened,” she vowed.

She maintained that Punjab was being criticised only because it was working.

“Serving the people is my duty as chief minister. Helping humanity in difficult times is a great form of worship,” she said.

Maryam Nawaz noted that the country had never witnessed such a devastating flood before. Punjab too was facing the worst flooding in its history as the Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab rivers overflowed, she said.

She said that 25 cities in Punjab were affected in the recent floods and the provincial government worked round the clock to ease people’s hardships.

The chief minister praised the relief efforts in flood-hit areas, saying provincial ministers, the administration, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Rescue 1122 and police had all worked tirelessly to help victims.

Earlier, without naming Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Maryam Nawaz criticised his remarks over flood relief, saying that Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)’s Rs10,000 would do little to help flood-hit families.

Speaking at the inauguration of the electric bus project in Dera Ghazi Khan, Maryam Nawaz said that Punjab was facing the worst floods in its history, with continuous rains for the last four months.

Earlier, Bilawal strongly criticised the federal government over its response to the recent floods, particularly in South Punjab. He also questioned the government’s reluctance to use the BISP for immediate flood relief, calling it the “only effective mechanism” available at the federal level.

“An respectable person said why doesn’t the government appeal to the world, begging for funds in the name of God. I want to tell him, keep such advice to yourself. Rs10,000 under BISP will not be enough for flood victims. Maryam Nawaz will not give them Rs10,000 but Rs1 million,” she said.

She said that while the PPP was a coalition partner, the party had engaged in politics over Punjab’s flood crisis.