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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan army guards scarce grain (A Window on the Future)) |
| 2008-01-15 |
| The authorities in Pakistan have deployed paramilitary troops to guard wheat supplies around the country amid fears of a massive shortfall. The government has blamed hoarders and smugglers for the problem. Wheat is a staple food in Pakistan and shortages have led to large scale rioting in the past. Flour shortfalls initially pushed up market prices. Later flour ran out on the open market when officials fixed prices and warned against violations. Now Pakistan's national disaster management authority has deployed thousands of paramilitary troops at wheat stores. The head of the authority said the aim was to ensure that store owners did not sell more than allowed by the government. The move comes after nearly a month of wheat shortages. President Pervez Musharraf said there was enough grain to feed everyone and the crisis had been engineered. He and other leaders have pointed the finger at "hoarders" and "profiteers". Officials accuse suppliers of smuggling wheat intended for domestic use to Afghanistan and Central Asia, where prices are higher. The state-run Utility Stores Corporation has been selling flour at the official rate of 18 rupees ($0.30) per kg. However, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Karachi says those queuing up outside are often told that the store has run out of stock. There have been wheat and rice shortages across South Asia in recent weeks and world prices have reached record highs. |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #9 Now Pakistan's national disaster management authority has deployed thousands of paramilitary troops at wheat stores. "No blood for bread!" |
| Posted by: Raj 2008-01-15 18:11 |
| #8 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Benazir's dad) did promise in 1965 that Pakistanis would eat grass to get the atomic bomb.. they have the bomb and may soon be eating grass... |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-01-15 17:44 |
| #7 We'd liked to help out, but our wheat makes Muslims impotent. Or sterile. I forget... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-01-15 17:15 |
| #6 I'm sure if they got all the thousands upon thousands of madrassah students and teachers to pray to Allah, wheat would fall from the sky. |
| Posted by: danking70 2008-01-15 17:12 |
| #5 I'm sure their fellow Muslims won't let Pakistanis starve. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-01-15 15:55 |
| #4 Later flour ran out on the open market when officials fixed prices Mmmm, price controls. Is there any economic problem they can't exacerbate? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-01-15 11:17 |
| #3 They make a reduction of whirled peas that's simply divine, or so I'm told. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2008-01-15 09:40 |
| #2 Or they could eat some nutritious crow. They made a desert and they called it islam (which means peace). |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-01-15 09:35 |
| #1 Isn't wheat too perishable to hoarde it for too long under the conditions I imagine it being hoarded under? Perhaps Pakistanis could eat poppies . . . . |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-01-15 07:20 |