Govt debunks PML-N’s criticism of locust handling

PM’s aide says tens of thousands of hectares of land cleared of hopper

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister Political Communication Shahbaz Gill on Thursday slammed the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership for its criticism of the government’s handling of the locust attacks in the country.

In a statement, Gill said that the federal government had been working since the beginning of this year to resolve the locust crisis by declaring a “national emergency” in January and allocating Rs8 billion funds for the fight against the hopper.

“[The leaders of the] PML-N are clamouring about it now,” he said, adding that when the government was taking emergency measures, the party leaders were in London. “N-League can't do anything else but to Jump into the arena for negative politics on every issue.”



The statement came after PML-N President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif expressed concern over locust attacks in different parts of the country and urged the government to show seriousness in dealing with the locust threat.

He demanded a joint comprehensive strategy by the federal government and the provinces. “The government should take joint action at the regional level. There is a risk of famine if effective measures are not taken to control the locusts,” he maintained in a statement.

Shehbaz added that after the coronavirus epidemic and economic pressures, the locust attack would make the problems worse. “The people of the affected areas, especially farmers, have been warning for decades but the government has not opened its eyes yet,”  he added.

While pointing out that the agriculture sector was in grave danger due to the locust attack, Shehbaz warned that the country's economy and farmers would be devastated, adding that the locust attacks threatened the national food security.

Gill, in his statement, defended the government’s remedial measures. He said that the Centre was providing spray and technical assistance to the provinces. He mentioned that the Punjab government immediately released Rs500 million to the agriculture department to deal with situation.



“Officers from the relevant departments are in the field, constantly. In the last few months, our field teams have cleared tens of thousands of hectares,” he said, adding that the anti-locust spray continued across the country. “Unfortunately, two pilots were also martyred in the air operation against locusts.”

Gill said that locust attacked a vast area, stretching from Africa to South Asia. Locust swarms entered Pakistan from other countries, and spread from one province to another, he added. “No country or province can deal with this problem alone.”

The special assistant to the prime minister called for multinational efforts to mitigate the locust threat. He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government stood by the farmers in these difficult times and efforts were afoot to protect crops.