Provincial autonomy must remain intact: PPP

PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari on Sunday said provincial autonomy "must remain intact from interference" in a statement that also referred to the proposed 28th Constitutional Amendment.

Bokhari noted that nothing had been "presented in black and white" regarding the proposed 28th constitutional amendment so far. "The issue of the National Finance Commission (NFC) has been raised under the 28th Amendment. The provinces resolved the matter themselves and provided funds to the federation from their own resources," he said

He seemingly referred to a recent arrangement under which the government decided to freeze development allocations for the provinces for three years to generate more than Rs900 billion in additional resources for the Centre's strategic needs ahead of the FY2026-27 budget.

Bokhari said while the PPP had supported the PML-N in budget formulation, the politics of both parties "remain separate". He also referred to a statement by PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, saying it was issued "keeping ground realities in view".

Bokhari did not specify which statement he was referring to, Bilawal recently hit out at the PML-N over the delay in holding local government polls in Punjab and Islamabad and accused it of attempting to create differences between the PPP and the MQM-P on the issue.

Speaking in the National Assembly on the final day of the budget session earlier this week, the PPP chief also challenged the PML-N to hold local government elections in Islamabad and Lahore within 90 days.

Bokhari stressed that the public should be given their rights through LG elections.

He added that the "PPP won the local government elections in Karachi with public support". He said the "MQM did not even participate in the last LG polls, and the JI would have had a right to the mayorship only if the people had voted for them".