CHARSADDA: The current wheat and flour crisis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is caused by the flawed government policies, arbitrary inter-provincial trade restrictions and widespread extortion along transit routes, said president of Charsadda District Flour Mills Association Murshid Ali Khan here on Tuesday.
He told reporters that administrative negligence and inter-provincial frictions were forcing the poorest segments of society to bear the brunt of skyrocketing flour prices.
He said restriction on wheat movement from Punjab into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa directly violated Article 151 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which guaranteed free trade and unrestricted movement of food supplies and essential commodities across all provincial borders.
“Political rivalries between the federal government and KP provincial leadership have turned food security into a political battleground,” he said.
Mr Khan claimed that transport trucks carrying wheat were systematically forced to pay Rs400,000-500,000 per vehicle in bribe and extortion fees to cross into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said with the province requiring around 100 truckloads of wheat daily, illegal collections amounted to Rs30-40 million per day.
“This drain equates to roughly Rs10-12 billion per month, accumulating to an astounding Rs200 billion annually extracted directly from the provincial economy into corrupt bureaucratic channels. While a 100kg bag of wheat is priced between Rs10,500 and Rs10,600 in Punjab, it reaches KP markets inflated to Rs13,000, passing the financial burden directly to daily wage earners and low-income families,” he said.
The association president said the ongoing crisis had crippled local milling industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said out of approximately 350 flour mills registered in the province, barely 10-12 mills remained operational.
“With an average of 50-60 workers employed per mill, the shutdown of over 300 facilities has left thousands of industrial laborers jobless.”
Mr Khan said severe electricity loadshedding, where industrial areas in cities like Charsadda faced long daily power outages compared to a 24-hour supply in parts of Punjab, had rendered milling unviable without heavy private investments in solar energy.
He added that industrialists were increasingly shutting down operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and relocating their flour and marble mills to Punjab, where power supply, wheat availability and business security were comparatively stable.
He urged the KP government to leverage its natural resources, specifically hydroelectric power and natural gas, to negotiate fair treatment from the central government and Punjab.
“The provincial government should suspend gas and electric supply to Punjab if the illegal restrictions on wheat transport are not lifted immediately,” he said.
CRIMINAL ESCAPES: An alleged criminal escaped from police custody as he was being shifted to the jail following a court hearing in Shabqadar.
Taking notice of the matter, the district police officer suspended the policeman on duty and issued a show-cause notice to the police station clerk.
The police said Sareer Ahmed, a resident of Atkay, was produced before the court in a case.
As the court issued his jail warrant, the accused was being taken to the jail when he escaped from the police custody.
The police said departmental proceedings would be conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations.
Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2026
