PESHAWAR: Awami National Party has condemned the decision of Punjab government to stop supply of wheat and flour to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

ANP provincial president Mian Iftikhar Hussain in a statement here on Monday said that his party considered the decision a clear violation of the Constitution, federal principles and provincial rights.

He said whenever Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faced difficulties the Punjab government closed its doors to the people of the province. “Our resources including oil, electricity, gas and coal are supplied to Punjab but when it is our turn, we are deprived of wheat and flour,” said the ANP leader.

He said that Pakistan was a country composed of four provinces and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan had as much rights as Punjab had. He criticised the Punjab government’s stance that transporting wheat to other provinces would be considered smuggling.

He said that ban on movement of wheat was manifestation of a policy that was aimed at pressuring other provinces by keeping them hungry.

Mr Hussain said that the policy led to severe shortage of flour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan that caused increase in the prices of the commodity.

He questioned whether the federal government was synonymous with Punjab and whether the rest of the provinces were not part of the federation.

He said that the Punjab government should immediately lift the ban on movement of wheat and flour and provide provinces with their rightful share. He said that Pakistan was not just Punjab but a country of four provinces.

He asked the Punjab government to lift the ban on supply of wheat and flour to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that rights of all provinces in the federation should be recognised to remove the existing unrest among people.

The ANP leader asked the federal government to stop treating provinces unfairly.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2025