LAHORE, Sept 20: Farmers’ bodies have demanded a judicial inquiry into the wheat scandal, alleging that there seemed to be a pattern of ‘cheat and deceit’ in the entire trade chain.

According to them, the government has deliberately been allowing traders to make money at the cost of consumers and farmers. It has already happened in case of sugar and cement. The way federal and provincial governments have been trading allegations over the wheat crisis requires an inquiry into the scandal, they say.

“This is a fit case for judicial inquiry,” says Rabia Sultan of the Farmers Associates Pakistan (FAP). The government, she adds, first beat the drum of a bumper crop and allowed export. As soon as the farmers started getting a better price, the export was stopped and the price came down. Now, when the entire crop has reached in the hands of hoarders and middlemen, the government has let the price increase by a phenomenal 34 per cent.

“We, as a nation, need to know who pocketed this money,” she demanded.

The way wheat trade is being handled also exposes claims of good governance, she said, adding: “One can imagine the kind of good governance the country is having if a roti costs Rs10. The government is letting mafias make money at the cost of common man.”

Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, a conglomerate of 22 farmers’ bodies, also wants an inquiry into the scandal. “The hoarders have caused a loss of Rs17 billion to the exchequer in the current crisis,” it said in a joint statement. These looters must be arrested and an inquiry must be launched to fix the responsibility.

The PKRC lamented that the government first allowed export at a rate of $220 and was now planning to import at $440. “The difference would be met by taxpayers’ money. The judiciary must move to fix the responsibility and take the responsible to task.”

Committee’s convener Farooq Tariq said the inquiry must be held not only to fix the responsibility of current fiasco, but also to trace the roots of the crisis. The government first fudged the figures of final yield in order to project higher GDP growth rate. To substantiate its `false claims’, it allowed export at a great national peril. Now, it delayed the release and let the wheat market spin out of hand. All these issues must be answered by an impartial inquiry or a judicial commission must be formed to take the culprits to task, he demanded.

Sadar Zafar Hussain, president of the Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP), says the farmers’ exploitation goes on unchecked at the hand of public and private sectors. —Staff Reporter