17 July 2004	Saturday	28 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, July 16: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has withdrawn its call for a countrywide strike after a meeting with Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in Islamabad on Friday.

PFMA Chairman Malik Niaz Ahmed told Dawn that the association had called off the strike upon assurances from the prime minister that the ban on inter-provincial transportation of wheat imposed by the Punjab government would be lifted shortly.

According to him, the PFMA's representatives and chairmen of its four provincial chapters called on the prime minister at the National Assembly speaker's chamber and explained to him the negative impacts of the ban.

"We reminded the prime minister of his announcement made a few days back in Karachi giving assurance that Punjab would be asked to lift the ban," said the PFMA chairman.

He claimed that "the prime minister got disturbed when apprised that his announcement in Karachi had not yet been complied with by Punjab and issued instant directives to the government of Punjab and personally talked to the food, agriculture and livestock secretary to get the matter resolved at the earliest."