Kakar pins wheat import blame on interim provincial govts

ISLAMABAD: After ‘wheat import scandal’ opened a new pandora box prompting high-level probe, ex-caretaker prime minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar pinned the blame for importing the commodity on the then-interim provincial governments, ARY News reported on Saturday.

In a statement, Anwaarul Haq Kakar ruled out his role in the prevailing crisis and stressed that “it’s not a job of a prime minister to oversee wheat production”.

The former premier noted that only 3.4 million metric tonnes of the said crop was imported whereas the shortage was of 4 million metric tonnes.

He alleged that the bureaucrats who created the artificial demand are still present in the provinces, holding them responsible for the current crisis.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a fact-finding committee to ascertain the irregularities in the wheat import last year despite a “bumper crop”, excessing the stock leaving Balochistan and Punjab governments unable to purchase the crop from the farmers.

The prime minister asked the relevant officials about the import of wheat last year and why the decision was taken to import the commodity despite foreseeing a bumper crop.

Due to the non-purchase of wheat by the provincial governments, wheat is being sold at a lower price than the official rate. The stock surplus is attributed to Kakar-led caretaker government allowing import of 2,758,226 226 metric tonnes of wheat till Feb 2024.

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Furthermore, the federal government has also removed Federal Secretary National Food Security and Research Division Captain (retd) Muhammad Asif from his post.

Ex-PM Kakar summoned

In this regard, the high-level inquiry committee summoned former caretaker premier Anwaarul Haq Kakar and ex-Secretary Food Muhammad Mahmood.

Sources claimed that the committee will also inquire from former Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar, former interim Minister for Commerce and Trade Gohar Ejaz, and the Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Sunday’s meeting.

The committee’s members believed that caretaker federal cabinet members had an important role on the wheat import and the inquiry report will be incomplete without inquiring them.

The committee has already completed the investigation with officers of Customs, Karachi Port and FBR.