PML-N senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday warned that the country would be destroyed if their NFC Award share was slashed but the Centre won’t get any benefit.

Any cut in the provinces shares would mean less spending on health and education which are provincial subjects, he added.

The federal government is at war with every province, he remarked during his address in the National Assembly and added that the cabinet at a meeting held on March 9 decided that they won’t provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to the provinces. The ministers are assigned with the task of abusing the Sindh government, he added.

About the claim made by the federal government that it has nothing to do with health for being a provincial matter, the former prime minister asked the cabinet members to check the rules and constitution, which clearly mention that the Centre is responsible for the infectious diseases.

The only thing coming out of the government’s stance is that the 18th Amendment is the reason behind the coronavirus pandemic, he remarked.

Suggest changes to the 18th Amendment and brought before the House for discussion, if it is the root cause of the problem, said Abbasi, adding that bring a bill to modify the NFC Award which has a sealing [on provinces’ shares].

The PML-N senior vice-president again blasted the government for the lack of strategy to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and said the prime minister was saying one thing and his ministers another.

Someone should explain what difference between lockdown and smart lockdown is, he remarked and said there was no lockdown in the country.

What is the containment strategy, has the government defined testing and treatment protocols, Abbasi asked the treasury benches and cited the alarming ratio of positive tests.

Is there any one-page document to explain the government strategy, the former prime minister said and grilled the treasury benches over the absence of a coordinated economic response amid the current crisis.

Earlier, Federal Ministers again justified the decision to relax lockdown and accused the opposition of not presenting any suggestions to fight the pandemic.

Where are the funds received from world bodies, Patel asks govt

PPP leader Abdul Qadir Patel on Tuesday said no one could compete with Prime Minister Imran Khan as only he could join the borders of China and Germany together.

The prime minister is now advising the people to watch Turkish drama Ertugrul, he may go out carrying a sword for jihad in Kashmir, Patel said in his sarcastic remarks during his address at the National Assembly.

He said the actual issue was to fight the coronavirus but the guns had been pointed Sindh, adding that the biggest problem for the government was the good performance of Sindh government, not the virus.

The PTI government must explain where the funding iswhich has been received from the international institutions, said Patel.

The prime minister is stuck between imposing the lockdown and not imposing the lockdown, he said and added, “You cannot make a decision because you do not have the ability to make decisions.”

Shahzad Akbar has been exposed in his attempt to become Saif-ur-Rehman, he said, adding that Asif Ali Zardari had faced victimisation in the name of accountability for his entire life.

Zardari was targeted as he did not entered into a deal with the anti-people forces, said Patel and added that the PTI government was targeting the opposition through NAB.

Imran’s position is so weak that he is forced to hide behind a person who passed three papers in one hour, Patel remarked about Federal Minister Murad Saeed.

He said the prime minister had hired people like Murad as stooges who imposed smart lockdown in New York [through a statement in Pakistan’s National Assembly].

Mushahidullah says Trump and Imran fighting with their own people, media

Separately, PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan said it seemed the government had joined hands with India on the Kashmir issue.

Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House, he said both Trump and Imran were fighting with their own people and media.

Addressing the parliament, PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has accused the government of misstating the amount of money allocated to the relief programme. He said that the government keeps giving examples of European countries, that have allocated sizeable share of their GDP to deal with the health challenge. Even India, Ashraf said, had allocated 10 percent of its GDP to handle the health crisis.

He demanded that the government presents the amount of GDP invested in dealing with the pandemic.

Ashraf expressed regret over the government's "failure to step up to the challenge". The PPP leader said that New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was the only leader in the world who had taken timely steps to curb the spread of the virus and took the nation into confidence while formulating a strategy.

He also criticised the lack of acknowledgment afforded to the Sindh government for the measures it took to cope with the crisis. Instead, the federal government sent two ministers to abuse the Sindh government, Ashraf claimed.