Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Former President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Dr. Shahid Rasheed Butt on Friday said the sugar mafia has planned a new sugar crisis in the country for undue profits. Failure on the part of the government to import sugar immediately will only embolden the sugar mafia, which is tantamount to helping it, he said. Shahid Rasheed Butt said in a statement issued here today said that a province where the price of flour is higher than the rest of the country is fuelling the flour crisis for political purposes. Making the people a scapegoat for political point-scoring is unacceptable, therefore, this practice should be stopped immediately, he added.
The business leader said that the price of wheat, corn and other commodities has risen in the global market because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, so there should be no delay in importing sugar and other needed items. He said that sugarcane production in Pakistan has been estimated to fall by 25% due to which sugar production will be reduced, and the price will increase which if not tackled urgently will lead to a crisis in the country.
If the government does not want to import sugar itself, then it should allow the private sector to import duty-free sugar so that the price in the market can be moderated and the intentions of the mafia can be thwarted. The food mafia also uses the transport mafia for profit as their strikes lead to a shortage of food items in different parts of the country, which helps the food mafia to reap the unjustified benefit of billions of rupees while increasing the suffering of the people, he observed.
