Re: An ode to Shaukat Aziz
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=apwFijxdJ_GM&refer=india
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) – Pakistan sent troops to guard flour mills to prevent smuggling to Afghanistan and illegal hoarding as the government said there is enough wheat to avoid a shortage in the country of 164 million people.
The newly created Federal Food Committee will help provincial governments secure wheat supplies and improve transportation within Pakistan and imports from abroad, the official Associated Press of Pakistan cited Lieutenant General Farooq Ahmed Khan, the body’s chairman, as saying yesterday. Pakistan’s wheat stock currently is more than 1.8 million metric tons, he added.
Paramilitary forces in Baluchistan will ``ensure no flour is being smuggled across the border’’ with Afghanistan, APP cited Major General Saleem Nawaz, inspector-general of the Frontier Corps in the province, as saying yesterday. As many as 52 trucks were stopped while trying to smuggle flour in recent days, he said.
Food shortages and rising prices in Pakistan are increasing pressure on President Pervez Musharraf’s government, which is trying to control civil unrest and a surge in terrorist attacks. Wheat prices in the world’s sixth-largest consumer of the grain climbed 23 percent in a 15-day period until Jan 8.
The Baluchistan Frontier Corps is guarding 55 mills and 44 storage depots, Nawaz said.
Long queues of people were seen outside sale points in severe cold in various parts of the province'' and the city of Quetta, Nawaz said. Security forces will ensure relief and supervise flour sales,‘’ he added.
Punjab Province
As many as 349 mills and 77 depots are being guarded in Punjab province, APP cited Brigadier Qaisar Khan Tareen, deputy director-general of the Pakistan Rangers, as saying in the city of Lahore yesterday.
The Rangers will help the provincial authorities undertake raids on any groups to prevent smuggling, he said, adding that all resources, including helicopters, will be used.
Riots that erupted in Pakistani cities after former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Dec. 27 cut supplies of wheat resulting in increased prices. An 80-kilogram wheat flour bag sold for a record of 2,000 rupees ($32) after riots cut supply, Fareed Qureshi, chairman of the Karachi Retail Market Association, said Jan. 8.
Flour, in short-supply in the commercial capital, Karachi, sells for as much as 40 rupees a kilogram, double the price from last month. Thousands of people have been queuing outside subsidized state-run grocery stores across the country to buy wheat flour, according to images shown by the Pakistani media.