The flour crisis has hit almost every part of the country, with rising inflation that jumped by nearly 31% as compared to last year. Amid such a shortage, a video has surfaced on social media purportedly showing sacks of flour being smuggled to Afghanistan via the border.
However, the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which shares the border with Afghanistan, has rejected such claims.
“There have been some videos that flour is being smuggled to Afghanistan. Some trailers have been shown. We investigated it yesterday. This belongs to World Food Programme. It bought wheat from the Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation (Passco) and they are sending it to Afghanistan,” KP Food Minister Atif Khan told a press conference centred on the flour crisis in the province.
Neither the trailer nor wheat or flour belongs to the Government of KP, he said and reiterated that the consignment shown in the video belonged to the WFP.
Khan added that the video does not show any marking on the wheat bags, however, it was suggested that flour was being smuggled to Afghanistan.
A video showing over a dozen tractor-trailers carrying goods surfaced on social media. The angle of the video showed that it was made by a person sitting in their vehicle.
“These are around 15 to 16 trucks that are being sent to Afghanistan while the people in Peshawar are not getting flour. The government is humbly requested to take action against it and flour should be sent to Afghanistan when Pakistan’s needs are full,” said the person who recorded the video.
The person was speaking in Pashto.
As soon as the video was uploaded on Twitter, many users started blaming the PTI-led government in KP. They also blamed the federal government for the shortage of flour.
The KP food minister said that KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan has given “strict instructions” to the provincial home department and deputy commissioners to ensure that flour was only sent to Afghanistan after the needs of the province were met.
“More restrictions will follow soon,” he said.
People in various cities of KP protested against rising prices of flour and other essential commodities on Sunday.
They asked the government to take immediate steps to control prices and ensure the availability of daily-use food items.
Flour prices touched a record high in Swat where 20kg flour bag was sold at Rs3,200, according to local traders.
The food minister blamed the Sindh government for fixing the rate of wheat at Rs4,000 and sparking a price hike.
“Despite this and poor financial situation, we are selling the 20 kilogrammes of flour bag at Rs1,300 which had soared to Rs2,700 to Rs3,000 in the market,” Khan said.
