STARTLING revelations were made during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security on Wednesday about the sale of plastic rice and dog, donkey and frog meat. The meeting convened to look into the challenges in basmati rice export to the European Union (EU) was informed that 107 consignments of rice sent to the EU had faced objections. A Senator also cited a report claiming that only 22% of the milk sold in the country was genuine, while the remaining 78% was chemically produced and fake.
It is really a matter of concern and shame as well that such criminal practices in sale and export of goods are taking place for long but no concrete system has been evolved to stem the rot. Instead, there are unfortunate reports that all this is happening with full connivance of the officials concerned and in the process the reputation of the country and its exports suffer. This was confirmed during the meeting of the Committee, which was informed that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered 17 FIRs against officials and employees over alleged mismanagement in rice exports. Pakistan’s exports are already negligible and frantic efforts are being made by the Government to find new markets and increase export of different items but some greedy and unscrupulous elements spoil such prospects due to their lust for minting money overnight. These elements and their accomplices deserve no leniency or mercy and must be dealt with iron hand. Similarly, there are scores of agencies responsible for checking quality of food and its adulteration and in fact the Punjab Food Authority made a good impact but then it went into the background because of pressure tactics by influential people involved in illegal practices. The Senate body has taken an initiative to draft a comprehensive food security policy but more important is activation of the prevailing mechanism to take merchants of death to task.
