Denied basics

Food inflation is a major issue in Pakistan. The prices of flour, cooking oil and sugar have skyrocketed. The poor are hardly getting by. In our village, near Awaran, Balochistan, a sack of flour of 30 kilogram is being sold for around Rs3000. Cooking oil is sold for over Rs300 per litre, and sugar costs around Rs130 per kilogram. Are such exorbitant prices justified?

How can a poor man with a monthly income of merely Rs10,000 feed his children? If inflation continues at this rate, poor households will succumb to starvation. Food is necessary for survival and should be available at affordable prices for all.

Muhammad Iqbal Shakar

Awaran