SUKKUR/LARKANA: The Sindh High Court, Sukkur bench, on Tuesday restrained the provincial food department from carrying out raids on private wheat godowns, in its ongoing campaign against hoarders and profiteers, till August 4.

The court issued the interim order on a petition filed by owners of some flour mills affected by the campaign. The petitioners are represented by advocates Qurban Malano and Zubair Chachar.

The bench, comprising Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi and Justice Arbab Ali Hakro, was informed that officials of the food department were seizing the wheat stocks legally purchased by the petitioners and kept in their warehouses.

The petitioners cited reports suggesting that the delay on the part of the department in procuring wheat crop during the season had caused heavy financial losses to farmers, thus a hike in wheat and flour rates following resultant shortage.

Petitioners claim legally purchased stocks were being seized in drive against hoarders

They claimed that the food department had resorted to targeting buyers of wheat stocks and conducting raids on their warehouses to seize the same. It was also sealing off the private warehouses after such seizures, they added.

After preliminary hearing of the petition, the court restrained the food department from conducting raids on private warehouses, seizing privately owned wheat or sealing storage facilities until the next hearing.

The matter was adjourned to August 4.

Rice millers also condemn action

The Sindh Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association has also strongly condemned the food department’s action against warehouses of its members across Sindh.

It convened an emergency meeting at its head office on Sunday to decide a future course of action.

The meeting was chaired by its President Haji Qamaruddin Gopang and attended by its General Secretary Asad Ali Tunio and representatives from all five districts of Larkana Division.

The meeting criticised the food department for implementing the wheat procurement policy without consulting rice millers, “the most genuine stakeholders”.

“Rice millers provide financial support to growers throughout the year for both rice and wheat cultivation,” said Mr Tunio. “After harvest, millers purchase wheat from the open market to recover their investments. Ignoring such an important stakeholder has repeatedly resulted in ineffective procurement policies and unnecessary conflict,” he said.

The association noted that the food department’s repeated failure to achieve its wheat procurement targets is an ongoing issue driven “by poor planning, administrative incompetence and deliberate loopholes that foster corruption”.

According to the association, whenever the market price falls below the government support price, genuine millers purchasing wheat legally at market rates face harassment and coercive actions. Conversely, when the support price exceeds the market price, empty government wheat bags are allegedly sold illegally for Rs100 to Rs500 each, causing substantial losses to the national exchequer.

The meeting also strongly condemned the Sindh government over the sealing of rice mills across the province, warning that the action was causing severe financial losses to an industry “that is already under immense economic pressure”.

The association stated that the wheat currently stored in these mills was purchased at significantly higher rates. Treating all stored wheat as “illegally hoarded stock” without distinguishing genuine traders from actual offenders, is unjustified and deeply damaging to the industry.

Participants of the meeting emphasised that the Sindh government should formally recognise the rice milling industry as an integral partner in the provincial wheat procurement system. The association demanded that all future policies be formulated through meaningful consultation, assuring the government that the industry could help achieve procurement targets with full transparency, efficiency and accountability if taken into confidence.

Following detailed deliberations, the meeting unanimously resolved that member mills across the province will voluntarily make available up to 10pc of their existing wheat stocks, where feasible, to support government food security objectives in the larger national interest.

This proposal will be formally presented to deputy commissioners in the upcoming meetings with them, the meeting said.

The session was informed that a delegation of the association has already met the Qamber-Shahdadkot DC, who extended his full cooperation and acknowledged the practical difficulties caused by the food department’s planning.

Reiterating its commitment to farmers, consumers and the government, the association urged the Sindh government to immediately halt coercive actions against genuine mills, investigate corruption within the food department, and formulate a fair and consultative procurement policy.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2026