Karachi, November 10,2026: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday called for a “political reset” in the country, urging all political parties to set aside their differences and work together to address the mounting economic challenges.
Addressing a ceremony marking the completion of one million houses for flood-affected families under the Sindh Flood Resilience Project (SFRP), Bilawal urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take steps to restore trust among the government’s allies and the opposition.
He said Pakistan and the rest of the world were facing an economic crisis amid the ongoing oil and energy crisis linked to the US-Iran war, warning that the country needed collective political efforts to navigate the situation.
“Pakistan’s politics will definitely have to be reset,” he said, adding that political parties should cooperate rather than engage in confrontation.
Emphasising that the public did not want further political conflict, the PPP chairman said the prime minister should first restore the confidence of his coalition partners and then reach out to opposition parties instead of opening new fronts of confrontation.
Bilawal said the economic crisis was among the most serious in history and required the support of all Pakistanis, including those in the opposition.
“Unless we face this crisis together, we will not be able to save our people from this difficulty,” he said.
His remarks come amid recent exchanges between federal ministers and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who has indicated plans to strengthen ties with the opposition alliance.
The tensions followed Fazlur Rehman’s criticism of the federal government’s decision to impose governor’s rule and emergency measures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is in power.
The Centre has repeatedly accused the provincial government of deliberately disengaging from counterterrorism efforts, while the province is now being administered under the PPP governor.
Highlighting the Sindh government’s rehabilitation efforts following the devastating 2022 floods, Bilawal thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the federal government’s support for the housing programme.
Without naming former prime minister Imran Khan, he said his predecessor had not provided financial assistance to flood-hit people in Sindh and had remarked that “Sindh is not ours”.
Bilawal said the current prime minister had not made the province feel excluded, adding that the project’s progress reflected the efforts of the Sindh government, international partners and cooperation from the Centre.
He described the construction of one million houses as a historic achievement and said the number would reach two million upon completion of the programme.
The PPP chairman also rejected allegations of corruption in the initiative and suggested that the Sindh chief minister invite international anti-corruption organisations to examine the project.
He said the housing programme and other public welfare initiatives, including free healthcare, were intended to reduce the financial burden on ordinary citizens.
Bilawal added that the country should be governed in accordance with the needs of poor and homeless people rather than the interests of the wealthy.
The Sindh Flood Resilience Project aims to reconstruct around 2.1 million rural houses damaged by the catastrophic floods of 2022, with an estimated total cost of nearly $2 billion.
The initiative covers approximately 40 per cent of rural households in Sindh. The European Investment Bank’s development arm, EIB Global, is providing a €100 million loan to the government for the programme.
The provincial government has also sought $350 million in financial assistance from the World Bank for the project during the fiscal year 2026-27.
