Senators assail govt over wheat flour crisis.

Byline: Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD -- The government on Monday faced scathing criticism from the opposition in the upper house of parliament over the wheat crisis, forcing Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to refer the matter to a house committee with the directive to seek details from all provincial chief secretaries on a daily basis and present a report to the house.

Announcing that the debate on the issue would also continue on Tuesday, the Senate chairman directed Minister for National Food Security Khusro Bakhtiar to be present in the house to respond to the points raised by the members.

Despite the chair's directives, the opposition members, however, staged a token walkout from the house to register their protest over the rise in flour prices across the country due to the shortage of wheat and the absence of the minister from the proceedings.

A number of opposition members, mostly belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), alleged that the nation was facing the crisis because of the 'mafias' sitting with the rulers and the government's decision to first allow 'an individual' to export wheat and then to allow 'the same person' to import it after the country was hit by its shortage.

PML-N says 'an individual' exported wheat and then 'the same person' has been allowed to import it

'The profit has been earned by the person whose aircraft you (PM Imran Khan) use for travelling. The profit has been earned by the person who runs your kitchen,' said Pervez Rasheed of the PML-N in an apparent reference to Jahangir Tareen, former secretary general of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

The PML-N leader regretted that wheat was exported at the rate of Rs29 per kg while it was being sold for Rs70 per kg in the country. He said the federal government was complaining that it was given wrong information by the provinces whereas the PTI itself was ruling in two provinces.

As many as six opposition members, belonging to the PML-N, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, took part in the debate on the wheat crisis and poor economic conditions in the country, but not a single member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) spoke on the matter.

PPP's Raza Rabbani and Sherry Rehman took the floor but they spoke on the recent news conference of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and on the issue of honour killings, respectively.

Muzaffar Hussain Shah of the PML-Functional, which is an ally of the ruling PTI, expressed concern over the wheat...

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