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- May 23, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
LAHORE: Farmers have criticized the suspension of four officers involved in the wheat import crisis, claiming that not enough has been done to shield the actual offenders. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif suspended four officials on the advice of an inquiry committee that looked into the import of wheat near the time of local crop harvest. The officials in question are Director Suhail, former DG of Food Protection A.D. Abid, former National Food Security Secretary Muhammad Asif, and National Food Security Commissioner Dr. Waseem. “It is not enough that the federal cabinet decided to suspend the four Food Security officers connected to the wheat incident. “We think that these officers are being used as scapegoats to shield the real offenders,” Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Pakistan Kisan Rabita Committee (PKRC), stated.
He went on, “They are punishing a few junior officers in an attempt to cover up the scandal.” He noted that Kamran Ali Afzal, who served as the secretary of caretaker prime minister Anwarul Haq’s cabinet, was appointed chairman of the investigating committee, giving the caretaker administration a clean sheet. “How can a federal secretary look into his former boss?” he asked. The true offenders who made this crucial economic choice are shielded from accountability, and the wheat scandal has been covered up. The caretaker administration and its ministers are to blame for allowing the import of grain and giving capitalist businesses carte blanche to pillage the regional economy.
He claimed that while 60 businesses have profited greatly from the wheat scam, the majority of farmers are still obliged to sell their crop at lesser prices since they are unable to sell it at the government-set rate of Rs 3,900 per 40 kg. Mr. Tariq issued a warning, stating that the PKRC would call farmers from all over the nation to participate in rallies in Lahore and Islamabad if the government did not begin the procurement of wheat and take action against the actual perpetrators of the wheat scam. He declared, “We will not allow the government to punish the junior officers and shield the real culprits.” He said, “The PKRC has mandated the formation of a commission made up of leaders of the farming community to look into the wheat scandal and find the true offenders.”