LAHORE
Special Assistant to the PM on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill has said that the sugar crisis has been created just for political point-scoring and to harm the interest of the country.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, he said that after the passage of 18th Amendment, the management of commodities is a provincial subject, but the matter is being politicised to pressurise the federal government.
He said that the entire world is facing an inflation problem, and especially the middle class is bearing the brunt of it across the globe. He said that six million tonnes of sugar is the annual need of the country, adding that last year the country’s sugar production was less than its domestic requirement. He said that with the grace of Allah Almighty, this year the country would have a bumper crop of sugarcane and about 7 to 7.2 million tonnes of sugar would be produced.
Gill said that mills in Sindh start sugarcane crushing in October, adding that in view of a bumper crop, the mills should start working early to complete sugarcane crushing till February-March 2022. He said that three sugar mills had started their operations in Sindh, but later on those were closed under some conspiracy to create a sugar crisis in the country. He said that sugar mills in Sindh would start sugar crushing from November 10.
He said that people are well aware of the situation and they cannot be hoodwinked by exploiters. The PTI government has revived the Competition Commission of Pakistan and imposed a fine of more than Rs40 billion on the sugar mafia purely on merit, he added.
He said that the mafia got stay from the courts and hid themselves behind it and added that in these circumstances, the recoveries could not be made. The SAPM said that the FBR has also been revived and later on, when tax assessment was made, tax evasions were detected. The FBR imposed tax of Rs500 billion on these tax evaders, but they also got stay orders from courts.
He said that the country has foreign reserves of $20 billion, which had been $9 billion when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came to power. Gill said that the government could absorb all sorts of criticism, but it would never compromise on the country’s economic interests.
He regretted that the previous government had committed economic treason with the country. He pledged that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government will never compromise on national and economic interests of the country.
To a question, he said that through the Ehsaas ration card initiative, those affected by price hike would get relief.
To another query, he said the PTI government does not believe in the use of power against protestors, adding that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had already been rejected by the people.
