Shehbaz, Bilawal slam govt for flour crisis

Opposition leaders express their concerns of price hike of commodity

ISLAMABAD: Opposition leaders – PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari – have criticised the PTI government for failing to prevent the ongoing flour crisis in the country as the price of the commodity has soared to Rs70 per kg – which is being attributed to a shortage of wheat.

In a statement issued from London on Saturday, Shehbaz demanded that the PTI should inform the nation about the “real reasons” behind the crisis and take strict action against those responsible for it.

“The nation deserves to know where exactly the wheat stock has disappeared,” the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly said.

"Who is benefiting from this crisis? Was the stock smuggled, where exactly has it gone and who is responsible for this massive incompetence which has impacted the entire country," he added.

The PML-N president reminded that during his party's tenure, the country had witnessed a record wheat crop to the point where the country was exporting it after meeting the local demand comfortably.

“But the immeasurable incompetence of this government has created a historic wheat crisis while the so-called prime minister and the food minister are nowhere to be seen.”

The opposition leader raised the question that if were any problems in the supply, why was it not addressed in time. “Why were no meetings called and no contingency plans formulated?” he asked.

Shehbaz said the people of Pakistan were being crushed under the unbearable load of taxes, had been stripped off every last penny in their pockets by this government and were struggling to survive.

“Meanwhile, the apathetic federal and provincial governments are looking the other way.”

The PML-N president said the hardworking poor people of the country were suffering because of the inability, mismanagement and incompetence of the federal and provincial governments.

“The state of affairs in every sector of the country -- gas and electricity, development and now flour -- is heart wrenching.”

Expressing his concerns over the flour crisis, Bilawal said PM Imran had reduced Pakistan from a wheat-exporting country to a one that had to import the commodity.

“The federal government is responsible for the crisis as it sent 40,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan,” he added.

The PPP chairman maintained that an artificial flour crisis had been created to benefit certain close aides of the prime minister.

He added that there was plenty of wheat stocked in government warehouses but it was not releasing it for the common man.

“The selected rulers have failed to deliver to the public.”