‘Hike in flour price tantamount to breaking backbone of poor’

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has expressed concerns over the increase in the price of flour. In a statement issued on Friday, Karachi JI chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman said the galloping inflation was forcing the poor to commit suicide.

He said the prices of gas and power had already been increased and now the latest hike in the price of flour is “tantamount to breaking the backbone of the poor”. “The prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed despite the fact that a common man is already struggling to make both ends meet,” the Karachi JI chief said.

“It seems as if the government is forcing the poor to commit crimes. And we can clearly see a surge in street crimes in the metropolitan city,” he added. Hafiz Naeem said poor people would have no option but to involve themselves in criminal activities if they failed to fulfil the basic needs, such as buying flour for children, due to the rapid inflation.

“Not only the street crimes have increased in the city but cases of robberies and burglaries are also on the rise,” he said. Hafiz Naeem said the government continued to say ‘all is well’ but in reality the country’s economy was in a shambles.

Talking of the gas outages in Karachi, he said the closure of CNG stations had also created grave problems in the city. He appealed to the people from all walks of life to raise voice against the rise in flour price.

The JI leader said many labourers and workers were compelled to have lunch outside home and now the hike in flour price would make it difficult for them to even buy roti from tandoor. “Even people from the middle-class are struggling to run the kitchen due to the runaway inflation,” he said.

He appealed to the flour mills not to increase the flour price on a voluntary basis “keeping in view the horrible condition of the poor citizens”. He said the Centre and the Sindh government were involved a tug of war instead of working together for the betterment of the people of the province.