TCP demands payment: Food dept has no record of wheat payment of last 14 years

CM orders probe; demands report <br /> on active Afghan SIMs being used <br /> for extortion

PESHAWAR: Chief Minster Mehmood Khan taking notice of active Afghan SIMs coverage in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and tribal districts has asked the department concerned to submit reports on the issue.

He has also inquired about the purchase of wheat from Trading Corporation of Pakistan in the last 14 years by the K-P Food Department expressing shock that the provincial authorities could not present of the transactions.

TCP was demanding payment of Rs17 billion along with mark-up for the wheat purchased by the province since 2004.

CM Mehmood took notice on Saturday after Express News circulated a news that Afghan SIMs are still active in K-P and some 341 SIMs are being used for extortion purposes.

The numbers from Pakistani SIMs can be traced due to detailed documentation, but the Afghan numbers owners cannot be traced, therefore the remain the choice communication tool of criminal elements.

According to documents available with The Express Tribune, some 341 Afghan SIMs used for extortion activities in the KP in the last two years but despite several efforts of the federal and KP governments, still Afghan SIM active in Pak-Afghan border areas and seven tribal districts despite several efforts of curbing by the PTA.

Documents also showed that only in year 2017 some 341 calls were received by the residents of K-P for extortion from Afghan SIMs, while Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police has arrested only 19 culprits in such cases in 2017.

The CTD record also shows that they have registered some 28 cases of extortion in K-P last year, which declined to 22 as of today.

“We have arrested 19 suspects in the recent years cases, while 16 accused also under investigation in the extortion cases, while in previous year we have arrested some 38, but some of them have been set freed after lesser evidence,” a CTD official told The Express Tribune.

CM orders action

Mehmood taking notice of the news and issued directive to all departments concerned to submit a comprehensive report about the step been taken.

Taking notice of zero record of purchase of wheat since 14 years, he said how could a department purchase wheat and don’t have record of the years. He formed a committee to look into the matters and asked the director general of Food Department to bring record from TCP office in Karachi.

While commenting on the issue Information Minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai said that that none of the previous government have record of the purchasing since last 14 years.

“The department does not have any records of their purchase since last 14 years and CM has shown resentment over the irresponsible attitude of the department,” Yousufzai said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2018.