COAS Asim Munir urged to initiate action against sugar mafia

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Kissan Ittehad has urged Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir to initiate an action against sugar mafia for ‘exploiting poor farmers’, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, Kissan Ittehad Chairman – Khalid Hussain Bath – claimed that the sugar mafia has mobilised to reduce the prices of sugarcane and deliberately delaying the crushing season.

He lamented that the sugar mafia had always been so strong that it was looting farmers, masses and the government by creating artificial shortage, evading taxes and then getting subsidy that caused an irreparable loss to the national exchequer.

The chairman demanded the caretaker government should soon announce the price of sugarcane in consultation with the farmers.

“All previous government have failed to control the sugar mafia,” he said, urging the COAS Asim Munir to initiate an action against them.

Taking over the presser, Kissan Ittehad central president Umair Masood demanded direct subsidy to farmers on fertilizers.

He said that the subsidy given by the fertilizer factories does not reach the farmer and they have to buy the commodity from black market.

Earlier, COAS General Asim Munir said that the crackdown against smuggling and a litany of other illegal activities would continue with full force.

During a meeting, the army chief said that illegal activities such as smuggling, hoarding, and panic on the forex market had resulted in detrimental consequences for the economy.