RAWALPINDI, Dec 12: It is understandable if the Q league, the king’s party, is not talking about the current Atta crisis for which it is solely responsible, but what is amazing is the silence of the opposition parties about this grave situation in their election rallies.
In the 60 years of Pakistan history this essential food item has never been the cause of worry as it is now. The opposition can floor the Chaudhris on this single count as the price of atta has never been so high and the commodity has never disappeared from the market as it has now.
The crisis of atta that began from the very first of Ramadan this year is still not over and has now been continuing for more than a month raising prices from Rs25 to 27 per kilogram. City District governments which are openly and secretly engaged in the task of returning the Q League governments to the power pavilions have no idea how this single item which is vital for the poor masses can play a decisive role in the coming elections if the opposition parties start exploiting it from their election platforms. Leaders of the Opposition parties are grilling the government on three counts — imposition of state of emergency, restoration of judges who did not take oath under the provisional constitutional order, and the curbs on the media. They seem to be unaware of the prevailing economic situation in the wake of the atta crisis. Their lengthy speeches make no mention of this issue of the gravest concern to the electorate.
Leaders of the two leading political parties - Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif — have described the care-taker set up as an extension of the Shaukat Aziz government. With the Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro as care-take prime minister, the economic managers remain almost the same. Salman Shah, who remained adviser to Shaukat Aziz, is now heading the economic team of the care-taker set-up. Benazir Bhutto’s statements against the government, particularly against President Pervez Musharraf, are calculated and political observers describe them as ‘light criticism’ and in the spirit of the NRO. Though she prefaced her arrival by raising the old slogan of Roti, Kapra and Makan - she has made no special mention of Roti in the context of the present crisis situation.
On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif, who landed in Lahore aboard King Abdullah’s aircraft a day before the last day of filing of nomination papers and is in no mood to spare President Musharraf and the Chaudhries can make good use of the wheat, sugar or atta crisis in his election campaign in Punjab which is the leading wheat growing province of the country. But the concerns of the poor seem far from this leadership also.
Closure of flour mills for want of wheat and exorbitant prices of atta in the market were developing into a scandal and an opposition alive to the economic crisis of this proportion could not spare the gross policy failures of the previous government which has no answer for making a mess of this kind under the umbrella of a military government it has been defending as the cure for all ills.
Around the world economic crises have led to fall of governments. Ayub Khan’s government fell for raising the price of sugar by two annas after remaining in power for almost a decade. People from both wings of Pakistan joined protest against the rise in sugar price. Their joint struggle finally turned into a movement which was instrumental in Ayub Khan’s downfall.
The atta crisis raging from the first day of Ramadan despite government’s tall pledges of keeping prices of essential items including atta, sugar and ghee under check during the month spiraled into wide ranging inflation that the government of Shaukat Aziz badly failed in checking. All he did was visit the State-controlled Utility Stores to give the impression that his government was controlling the prices. While the big fish remained at large, a crackdown was ordered against nanbais for raising the price of nan and roti. Nanbais were arrested and released but the ‘high’ price or roti or nan could not be arrested.
The federal and provincial governments left the atta business with City District governments, whose district price control committees had already earned a bad name due to their poor performance. Price Magistrates were also appointed but their performance also proved to be dismal.
Political analysts challenge the credibility of former prime minister Shaukat Aziz’s economic team over handling the wheat crisis which had emerged during his tenure. The country had a bumper wheat crop this year and there should not have been any crisis.
