Sindh govt responsible for wheat crisis: Shibli

ISLAMABAD: Information and Broadcasting Minister Senator Shibli Faraz Monday blamed the Sindh government for the wheat and flour crisis, saying the provincial government was not releasing its share of commodity to benefit people.

In a joint news conference with Federal Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, the minister said the market was giving the impression that flour prices were rising but this was contrary to facts.

He alleged that the Sindh government played politics on the coronavirus and was now playing the same with regard to wheat. He noted that both Punjab and Sindh had higher wheat production this year while the cause of wheat crisis was Sindh government, which was not releasing its share of wheat.

The minister maintained that it was the Sindh government that created a situation forcing the people of the province to buy expensive wheat. “The Sindh government is thus creating problems for us, “he remarked.

In the past, he pointed out that vested interests had made illicit profiteering through such machinations, as these profiteers nurtured the system of sucking the blood of the people. “Profiteers are trying to discredit the government and for this artificial shortages have been created, but these will be dealt with severely,” the minister warned.

He explained that majority of people in rural Sindh suffered from malnutrition but the Sindh government did nothing for its people over these years. After recent rain in Karachi, he noted, people had seen the performance of Sindh government. He charged that PPP had pushed the people of Sindh into the swamp of poverty with its poor policies.

To a question about increases in the prices of petroleum products, the minister said this was done due to global prices rise in petroleum products. He maintained that there had been a significant plunge in cases of coronavirus cases in the country but cautioned that the situation was not normal yet and people should continue following SOPs and social distancing.

APP adds: Meanwhile, speaking in a private TV channel programme on Sunday, Shibli Faraz said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had challenged the status quo from day one it came into power, and those status quo forces had always tried to create hurdles in the way of the government.

The minister said regulating social media was a difficult task but it was essential. Replying to a question, he said the prime minister also had personal interest in regulating the social media.

The minister said projecting the government and policies of the prime minister was the responsibility of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which was a challenging task and the social media was also part of it.

To another query, Shibli said he was not in favour of ban on the media and fully support freedom of expression but it should be within the parameters of decency. He said national institutions had been destroyed by the previous governments through political recruitments, where incompetent were placed on important seats and expressed hope that things would improve in coming six (6) months.

He said state-run TV had a tremendous history of producing excellent dramas and other productions, adding the government would upgrade the state owned television with modern technology and equipment soon.