Sugar crisis a conspiracy, says Shahbaz Gill

Says management of commodities a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment

LAHORE:

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill Sunday pledged that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would never compromise on national and economic interests of the country.

Addressing a news conference, he said that the entire world was facing inflation and the middle class was especially bearing the brunt of it across the globe.

Gill noted that mills in Sindh start sugarcane crushing in October, adding that in view of a bumper crop, the mills should start working early to complete sugarcane crushing till February - March 2022. He said that sugar mills in Sindh would start crushing sugar from November 10.

He said that three sugar mills had started their operations in Sindh but later on they were closed due to a conspiracy to create a sugar crisis in the country.

Read Sugar price shoots up to Rs160 per kilo

Gill, while criticizing the Sindh government, said that the sugar crisis had been created just for political point scoring and harming the interests of the country and the people of Sindh. He said that after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the management of commodities was a provincial subject but the matter was being politicized to pressurize the federal government.

He said that people were well aware of the situation and they could not be hoodwinked by exploiters. The PTI government had revived the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and imposed fines of more than Rs40 billion on the sugar mafia purely on merit, he added.

He said that the mafia got stay orders from the courts and hid themselves behind those orders, adding that in these circumstances, recoveries could not be made. The SAPM said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has also been revived and the agency detected tax evasion when it began the process of tax assessments.

The FBR imposed tax penalties of Rs500 billion on these tax evaders but they again got stay orders from courts, he said. He also stated that the country currently had foreign reserves of $20 billion, which were $9 billion when PTI came to power.

Gill said that the government could absorb all sorts of criticism but it would never compromise on the country's economic interests. He regretted that the previous government had committed economic treason with the country.

Answering a question, he said that through the Ehsaas ration card initiative those affected by the price-hike would get relief. Replying to another query, he said the PTI government did not believe in the use of power against protestors, adding that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had already been rejected by the people.