PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the federal government could not get itself relieved from the responsibility of formulating a comprehensive strategy to tackle the coronavirus through a wrong interpretation of 18th Amendment.

In an interview to BBC Urdu, Bilawal said the PTI-led federal government instead of working together with the province was trying to sabotage the good work done by Sindh.

It is a responsibility of the national leadership to take tough decisions amid a crisis but it would be the first time that the Centre and the prime minister are announcing to distance themselves from the provinces, he remarked.

When asked that health is a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment, his reply was that the amendment gave powers to the provinces but not the passage to the Centre to flee.

Formulating the policy, Bilawal asserted, at the national level was a responsibility of Federation, adding that there was a lack of leadership there.

Citing the example of some health facilities, the PPP chairman said the 18th Amendment was not even noticed when the Centre wanted to stanch away hospitals from Sindh. However, they talked about the amendment when a pandemic had hit the entire world and the country was facing a warlike situation, he noted.

Why there is an institution like NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) and the office of federal health secretary if the Centre has no role after the 18th Amendment, Bilawal questioned.

Referring to the assertion that the people could not be forced to stay at home, he said the statements issued by Prime Minister Imran Khan only created confusion in the country.

Terming such statements as irresponsible, Bilawal said every province was trying its best according to its capacity to tackle the situation.

The consequences for the Centre could also be dangerous if the only thing one could get was criticism and the message that “you are alone”, he warned.

The PPP chairman said the federal government was criticising the most successful province only to hide its incompetence.

About the telethon transmission, Bilawal said the government need to understand that collecting donations wasn’t a solution to every problem.