Staff Reporters
Islamabad/ Karachi
As wheat prices remained exorbitantly high across the country on Sunday, the opposition and centre continued to bicker over who was to blame for the fast declining wheat reserves in the country.
While the PTI lays the blame squarely on the Sindh government, citing untimely purchasing and a subsequent shortage in supply to the flour mills, the Sindh government took exception to being the target of “a dirty blame game” and in turn held the prime minister responsible.
Meanwhile, the PPP and PML-N alleged that despite a shortage in reserves of wheat, the commodity had been exported. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif demanded an inquiry to determine who had authorised the move.
Furthermore, the nanbais of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have announced that they will go on a strike today (Monday) against the government, as their various associations in Punjab have given a five-day ultimatum to the government asking it to provide them flour at the previous rate or allow them to raise the prices of naan and roti.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the shortage of wheat in Sindh is due to the negligence of the provincial government, not the federal government. Addressing a press conference in Sialkot on Sunday, Awan said: “After the Sindh government’s negligence in not buying flour in a timely manner, 400,000 tonnes of wheat were given to the province from the federal government’s strategic reserves on the directives of the prime minister.”
“From the total wheat allocated, the Sindh government has only taken 100,000 tonnes of wheat. This goes to show that the shortage of wheat in Sindh, and the subsequent increase in the price of the commodity, is due to an issue in the supply. “The Sindh government has failed to ensure that the wheat is supplied to mills in the province. Due to this, flour mills are not working at full capacity and there has been a sharp increase in flour prices.” She urged the Sindh government to expedite the supply chain and provide flour to the mills so that prices can be reduced.
Minister for National Food Security and Research Khusro Bakhtiar said that the Sindh government had failed to procure even a single grain of wheat this year despite having a target of 700,000 tonnes. He said that the citizens of Sindh are as dear as any other in the country and the federal government will assume responsibility for their care.
Bakhtiar said that the federal government had provided 400,000 tonnes to Sindh, especially for Karachi and Hyderabad, but only 100,028 tonnes had been picked up. He said he had spoken to the food department secretary and assured him that if additional wheat was required, Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) had committed to providing 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes more.
Meanwhile, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani, in response to Awan and Naqvi’s statements demanded that the prime minister appear on television and apologise to the nation for the shortage. He held the premier responsible for the wheat shortage in Sindh as well as the rest of the country. “Is the Sindh government also responsible for the shortage in Punjab?” he pointed out. He claimed that wheat from Punjab had been sent to KP and a shortage was intentionally created in Punjab. “The PTI government is playing a dirty game by blaming Sindh.”
Ghani criticised the federal government for being occupied with blaming Sindh while there are queues lined up in Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta of people seeking to obtain wheat. “The PTI government cannot put up this act for much longer where it blames others to hide its own incompetence,” said the minister. Shehbaz demands inquiry into wheat exports
Shehbaz Sharif, on the other hand, demanded an inquiry into who had authorised export of wheat.
“When there was an internal shortage, why was wheat and flour sent abroad?” he asked.
He demanded that answers be provided to the nation for who was behind this act and at what price was it sold. “The nation must know who benefitted from having caused such harm to the country.”
