ISLAMABAD – People in Pakistan are cutting meals for survival while many were forced to stand in long queues to get the basic commodities as inflation bites.
Another stampede sparked outrage as a man was killed while eight others suffered injuries during a gut-wrenching incident that occurred to get free flour in crisis-hit Pakistan on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.
The salaried class has been forced to wait in stretched queues to get basic food items as the prices skyrocketed in recent months, with inflation at a near 50-year-high.
The recent incident occurred in Charsadda, the country’s northwestern region where already distressed people were trampled and rushed to the emergency where one person succumbed. The stampede occurred when hundreds of people flocked to one the government’s distribution points to get free flour.
The incident sounds alarm bells at the haphazard situation in the country as this is the third such incident across the South Asian nation claiming lives. A previous incident occurred in Muzaffargarh, where an elderly woman died during a stampede earlier this week.
She fell down due to the stampede by the crowd pushing to get flour bags early and passed away on the spot.
The first incident occurred in Faisalabad in a similar stampede at a flour distribution point where an elderly citizen died in the akin tragic incident. The deceased identified as Muhammad Kaleem was found unconscious at the park’s main gate. He was rushed to the medical facility where breathed his last.
