KARACHI: “If you don’t stop profiteering, you will go to hell!” shrieked Payal, a transgender as she clapped her hands loudly at a poultry seller.
“Who are you to say that to me?” came the burly man’s meek response. He knew full well that he was helpless against this moral police. These transgender inspectors have been authorised by the city’s commissioner to go around in markets and scold, embarrass and complain against those selling commodities at higher rates.
Two hours before Iftar on Wednesday, transgender Payal and Fouzia, accompanied Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui and the assistant commissioner of Saddar to the Empress Market in raid against profiteers.
The commissioner has included eunuchs in the campaign against profiteering as he feels their presence across the city can be effective. “Their role in the drive will also help them get respect in society,” said Siddiqui.
The eunuchs will accompany official teams on their raids. They will scream, shout and clap to embarrass the traders who charge exorbitant prices, making sure no one is spared.
“We are happy to help the government as, because of us, price lists are being displayed and people are refraining from profiteering. No one will suck the blood of the poor if we can help it,” said Fouzia, wishing that they were also paid for their services.
In Ramazan, the transgenders would also be going on their own, secretly checking if commodities were being sold according to the official rate list. If they aren’t, they will rebuke the shopkeeper and complain on the helpline provided by the commissioner’s office.
The slender Payal, who had visited the Empress Market a night before the raid, took the commissioner directly to a grocery shop whose owner was selling black peas for Rs100 per kilogramme instead of the official rate of Rs90.
“Transgender don’t lie. Why are you selling at higher prices?” questioned the commissioner firmly. He subsequently announced a fine of Rs10,000. The storekeeper looked away in dismay as the fine receipt was handed to him.
The team, flanked by cameramen and reporters moved ahead. But as soon as the sellers heard or saw them coming, they would lower their prices, prominently display the price list and stand alert with fake smiles plastered across their sweat-browed faces.
“When you got to know of our arrival, you decided to put up the price lists,” joked the commissioner to an onion seller. A casually dressed transgender moved quickly to a date retailer. His prices matched the official list. They said ‘shabash’ to him.
The group then entered the open-air poultry market and found a seller selling poultry at a higher price. One of the customers claimed to have bought the poultry from the shop at a higher price but the shop owner adamantly denied it.
Another shopkeeper barged in at this point. “Why are you fining us?” he questioned the commissioner angrily. “We are not lying. Our prices match the official list.” Things were about to turn ugly. But the commissioner would not hear anymore. The police took the man away and the poultry seller was also fined.
The fruit sellers were the cleverest. They ran away from their carts, leaving them unattended and were nowhere to be seen throughout the raid. “Where are your brothers? Why are they not here? Why are they not displaying their price list,” spat Fouzia at a man selling mangoes.
The raid came to an end around an hour later. Three men were fined a total of Rs13,000 as others vowed to sell items according to the government rates.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2014.
COMMENTS (11)
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Please come and visit Nazimabad Goal Martket as well because the shopkeepers especially the (fruit sellers) are charging very high prices from the customers .. Please take strict action against them so that every muslim could enjoy the blessing of this holy and precious month... :) Thanks.
Price are up or prices are down? I think most of the posters missed the true story and kudos to ET for highlighting how Pakistan is in the forefront of advancing transgender rights and making use of Pakistani transgenders a segment of society that was not even considered as a whole person. For an Islamic country we in the USA celebrate the humane, decent and respectful way Pakistan has presented itself that tolerance is really a great virtue give to us by the Almighty!
DEAD CAN NO LONGER BE AWAKENED!
The apparent proof of a dead moral is the farce persecution of poor citizens and glorification of the deceptive business practices of upper class business mafia.
I take offence to the headline referring to the transgenders drive against pricing as moral policing. It is a civic drive against the death grip of cartels on the public. I would request et to refrain from distorting and diluting the term moral policing, which is the desperate and dispicable attempt of the religious right to enforce their thoughts on the public by anymeans and usually by threats and acts of violence.
No wonder PAK economy is in shambles. Price control? Let us see how it works.
Some pea brain fellow in the office decides chicken is 100 rupees. The butcher then adds his profit and loss base and decides that chicken is worth only 50 rupees to buy from the poultry farmer. The poultry farmer however spent 100 rupees worth of grain and medicine to raise the chicken, so he is under loss but he needs to sell the chicken to get a cash flow.
If you don't like my price, you don't have to buy. The merchants cannot store the inventory for ever and price will slump when they decide to sell. So no merchant will go into cabal in price fixing especially with produce and food.
The approach is also degrading human dignity of transgender people.
This is ridiculous. Profiteering happens when there are limited number of sellers. Which in turn usually happens when governments block sellers from entering the market.
My suggestion to the Comissioner is to actually do his job and protect people - sellers and consumers - rather than doing silly stunts like this. This protection means preventing goons from extorting bhutta, from police to arbitrary stop and extract bribes, doing away with price floors and ceilings and ensuring there are few not more regulations to mess with free interchanges in the marketplace.
@Bakhtawer Bilal:
How naive of you. Supply and demand equilibrium? Haha! Textbook economics hardly apply to developed economies and here you're applying them to Pakistan where there is a high rate of cartelization and institutional decay. Revisit Econ 101.
First of all the profiteering does not just happen, it starts from the wholesalers. Secondly, if there IS a law for price cap, then why is Mr. Commissioner relinquishing the authority to implement the law, and passing this authority to someone else. You can not skew the supply and demand equilibrium.