No wheat shortage in Sindh, says Sharjeel

There is no shortage of wheat in the province as ample stocks of the essential food crop are present that will last till March 2023.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said this at a press conference on Wednesday. He said that Sindh was the only province in the country where wheat flour was being sold at a subsidised price of Rs65 per kilogramme.

He explained that the Sindh government paid billions of rupees as a subsidy to ensure that wheat flour remained available to the people at a controlled price.

Memon told media persons that availability of wheat flour at the subsidised rate was being ensured through 1,100 makeshift selling points, including stalls and mobile vans. The Sindh government had also publicised telephone numbers through which consumers facing difficulties in getting wheat flour at the subsidised rates could contact the government, he said.

The information minister said Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had done much hard work to overcome the situation of diplomatic isolation of Pakistan caused by flawed policies of the previous regime led by Imran Khan.

Pakistan’s ties with many countries had improved due to efforts by Bilawal, Memon added.

About the murder of a man by three cops on Tuesday, he said Sindh Chief Minister had promptly taken cognisance of the incident and ordered the arrest of the police personnel involved in the murder. He maintained that whosoever was involved in the murder would not get any concession as the regime of the Pakistan Peoples Party believed in the rule of law.

He blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman for the current economic woes of the country, alleging that the PTI chief had compromised on the national interests for the sake of his politics.

Memon said Khan had himself conceded during his stint in power that he had delayed the decision of getting a bailout package from the IMF. He recalled that the PTI regime changed federal finance ministers several times.

The information minister said Khan had lately claimed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had not been under his control when he was in power. He added that the fact of the matter was that NAB had been used by the PTI chairman to serve his vested interests during his rule.

He alleged that the PTI leadership had been implicated in many mega corruption scandals, including the Malam Jabba resort, Peshawar BRT, and import and export of wheat and sugar.

He said these corruption cases should be pursued to imprison the PTI leaders. He added that the PTI chairman had also remained involved in the sheer plundering of precious gifts belonging to the Toshakhana.

To a question, Memon said that all the accusations against the PTI chairman were “open and shut” cases and Khan could be arrested under any of these charges.

He challenged Khan to show courage to dissolve the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly as per his own announcement.

He also claimed that during his regime, the PTI chairman did not announce any new development scheme for Sindh.