KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party has condemned a federal government decision through which it had given subsidy to the private sector on import of wheat.

In a joint statement, PPP Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and core committee member Taj Haider called the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government “corrupt”, as it had made it a practice to create a crisis and then make policies ensuring windfall profits for its “henchmen” in the name of resolving the crisis.

They said that the limitless imports of wheat by the private sector had already been allowed together with a waiver of total 68 per cent in import duties and now subsidies on import of wheat were being indicated for enhancing the windfall profit margins for the importers and smugglers, while prices of wheat flour in Karachi had already touched the level of Rs75 per kilogram.

“The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation on its Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) page has given 14/07/2020 fob prices of US wheat as $216 per tonne. Their headline on the page states that wheat export prices continue to decline,” the statement said.

The party says ‘selected’ rulers should resign and go home

“One can add another maximum $25 per tonne as the freight from the US to Karachi and the import prices come to $241, or Rs40,000, per tonne. With the present market prices in Pakistan hovering between Rs65,000 and Rs70,000 per tonne one can easily calculate the enormous profits that the importers and smugglers stand to make.”

They said that notwithstanding the loud and hollow proclamation of this “mega corrupt government” for taking action against hoarding, it was futile to expect that the wheat and flour prices would come down after importing wheat through private sector. “Those who had hoarded the wheat purchased from the local market under the umbrella of this government would hoard the imported wheat as well till agriculture sector is completely destroyed,” they added.

“In the present chaotic situation only one demand can be made which is that the selected rulers should resign and go home so that an elected government gets the opportunity to undo the damage that has been done during the last two years,” said the PPP leaders.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2020