Bakers announce strike over soaring flour prices

RAWALPINDI:

The Pakistan Naanbai Association has announced a complete shutter-down strike tomorrow (Tuesday) to protest against the doubling of flour, fine flour, and refined wheat prices over the past 18 months, as well as the persistent sealing of tandoors, the imposition of fines ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs100,000, and the closure of bakeries for up to five days.

All regional chapters of the association across the Rawalpindi Division - including Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Talagang, and Murree - have confirmed their participation in the strike. The Islamabad Naanbai Association has also pledged its full support.

The Central President of the Naanbai Association, Shafiq Qureshi, said that at the time of the formation of the Shehbaz Sharif government at the federal level and the Maryam Nawaz administration in Punjab, a 79-kilogram sack of red flour cost Rs5,500, whereas the price has now surged to Rs11,000. Likewise, a bag of fine flour, previously priced at Rs6,200, now sells for Rs12,600.

"This system of costly flour and cheap bread can no longer be sustained," he said. "The Prime Minister once vowed to sell his own clothes to provide affordable flour - yet now, it is the tandoor operators and bakers who are being stripped bare. Since the establishment of the new Price Enforcement Force, we have been subjected to relentless oppression."

According to Qureshi, since October 1, 38 tandoors have been demolished without justification, 79 have been sealed for five days each, and more than 100 owners have been fined between Rs25,000 and Rs50,000. "We will not remain silent any longer," he declared.

He added that the government and district administration have utterly failed to regulate flour prices, and that their frustration and administrative failure are being taken out on tandoor owners and bakers through demolitions, fines, and arbitrary closures.