OBSERVER REPORT
ISLAMABAD A report by the Federal Investigation Agency claims that top PTI members were among those who gained from the recent sugar crisis in the country. An investigation into the crisis had been ordered by Prime Minister Imran Khan in February. Among the people named in the FIA report are Jahangir Tareen and a brother of Minister for National Food Security Khusro Bakhtiar. Tareen was said by the report to have benefitted the most from the sugar crisis followed by Bakhtiar ’s brother, says a private news channel. The report also claims that the companies belonging to Moonis Elahi — an ally of the party — profited from the sugar crisis. Elahi is Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s son and a key member of the PML-Q. The document does not mention under whose influence Punjab government issued subsidies to sugar mills or why the Economic Coordination Council approved the decision to export sugar. Reacting to the report, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said he has faith that whatever the situation, Prime Minister Imran Khan “will ensure justice”. Former PTI general secretary Tareen said that out of the Rs3bn subsidy to the sugar mills, Rs2.5bn were given when the PML-N was in power. An investigative report by FIA on the country’s wheat crisis has come out, revealing that former Federal Minister for Food Security Sahabzada Mehboob Sultan was involved in the wheat crisis. The report also implicates Food Minister Punjab Samiullah Chowdhury for creating the wheat crisis saying that the Food Security and Research Center kept the Economic Coordination Committee unaware of the wheat procurement situation. The report says that the wheat and flour crisis in the country was a creation of the Flour mills Association.
