Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari used a ceremony in Sindh on Tuesday to send a message to the federal government: unite the country’s politics, and start by repairing relations with your own allies. He called for a “political reset” in which all parties work together, and asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to rebuild trust “instead of picking new fights”.
What he said
Speaking at an event marking the completion of one million houses for flood victims under the Sindh Flood Resilience Project (SFRP), Mr Bilawal said the oil and energy crisis caused by the US-Iran war has put Pakistan and the world in front of an “economic catastrophe”. “Pakistan’s politics will definitely have to be reset” to cope with it, he said, but the parties would have to work together instead of fighting. The public, he added, does not want to see more conflict.
His advice to the prime minister was in order: first restore the trust of the government’s allies, then that of the opposition. He described the present economic crisis as one of the worst in the world’s history and said that opposition support was needed too. “Unless we face this crisis together, we will not be able to save our people,” he said.
Behind the remarks
Mr Bilawal’s comments follow heated exchanges in recent weeks between federal ministers and veteran politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) chief has since moved to strengthen his links with the opposition alliance. He joined the opposition in criticising the Centre’s decision to impose governor’s rule and an emergency in the PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Centre has cited the provincial government’s “deliberate disengagement” from the fight against terrorism, and the PPP’s governor now heads the province’s administration.
We have covered those developments from the start, including the imposition of governor’s rule in KP and Maulana Fazl’s rejection of it.
The housing project
The occasion was the project’s milestone. Mr Bilawal said Sindh has now finished one million homes, which he described as the biggest housing programme anywhere, and that the total will reach two million once the project is done. He thanked the prime minister for the Centre’s support on flood rehabilitation, and without naming Imran Khan said a predecessor of Mr Shehbaz “did not give us a single penny” and had said “Sindh is not ours”.
| Project facts | Figure |
|---|---|
| Homes completed | 1 million |
| Target | About 2.1 million rural homes damaged in the 2022 floods |
| Total cost | Almost $2 billion |
| Share of Sindh’s rural households covered | 40% |
| EIB Global loan | EUR100 million |
| Further World Bank financing sought for 2026-27 | $350 million |
He proposed that the Sindh chief minister invite international anti-corruption monitors to examine the scheme, insisting it is clean. Projects like this, and free hospital care, are meant to take financial pressure off families, he said.
Why it matters
The PPP has been working with the federal government, so a public call from its chairman for a “reset” signals that the party wants a change in how the Centre handles its partners. He did not, in the report we have, threaten to withdraw support. The message was addressed to the prime minister’s style: first allies, then opposition.
The economic argument is real. Fuel prices are high, talks with Jamaat-i-Islami are at a delicate stage, as we report today, and the IMF wants fuel support wound down. A broad political understanding would make hard decisions easier to defend. But the call also comes when the government and opposition are far apart over KP, so the prospects of an all-party reset are uncertain.
On the housing project, one million finished homes is a large number, but the figures are the PPP’s and the Sindh government’s own, and the independent verification mentioned by Mr Bilawal would be the real test of the scheme.
What we do not know
- What specific steps Mr Bilawal wants the prime minister to take.
- Whether the prime minister or the PML-N will respond to the call.
- Whether the PTI would take part in any reset.
What to watch is the federal government’s answer, any meeting between the PPP and the PML-N leadership, and whether Maulana Fazl’s opposition alliance responds to the appeal.
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