Govt to bring prices down, improve supply of commodities: Shibli Faraz

Information minister Senator Shibli Faraz on Tuesday said the government would adopt a coordinated mechanism to bring prices down and improve supplies of the commodities by anticipating shortages.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad to give details of the decisions taken in the weekly cabinet meeting and a meeting on price control, he said the government was aware that the price hike is a serious issue which has adversely affected low and middle income groups.

The cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan was also attended by provincial chief secretaries and food secretaries, he said.

The minister held the Sindh government responsible for the wheat shortage and a difference in its price in the various provinces.

He said the wheat crop was affected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to rains.

Both the private and public sectors had imported wheat and now the government had enough reserves to overcome any shortages, he added.

 Sindh government is responsible for wheat shortage and a difference in its price in the various provinces

The people, he said, had to bear a hike in wheat prices due to "insincerity of the Sindh government", which had now agreed to release the stocks to stabilise the supply and price of the commodity.

While commenting on inflation and shortage of essential items, he said that coronavirus had affected many countries including Pakistan, and insisted that there is no shortage of food items including wheat in the country.

Shibli assured the media that efforts are being made to control wheat prices.

Later, in an interview with a private television channel, he also claimed that the government would bring down inflation within two weeks.

'Good news for Pakistan is bad news for Opposition'

Meanwhile, speaking of the Opposition and its anti-government campaign with mass rallies due to begin this week, he said any good news for Pakistan is bad news for the country's Opposition as it only eyes saving its leaders' "looted assets".

The minister claimed that the Opposition seeks the government's help in getting rid of their cases.

"The nation has rejected them," Faraz said.

"The majority of the people in the Pakistan Democratic Movement have allegations of corruption against them," the information minister said, adding that the government does not wish to stop the Opposition from holding rallies.

The country is now recovering from the economic crisis forced on it by the coronavirus, the senator claimed, adding that in comparison, the economies of several countries lay crushed by the pandemic.

Faraz said that the Opposition got more seats than they deserved. "The Opposition parties are using Maulana Fazlur Rehman and he is using them."

"They want Pakistan to run as it used to when they lived like kings," he said.

Tiger Force

Talking about Prime Minister Imran Khan's Corona Relief Tiger Force, he said "volunteers from various professions are part of the force", adding that they have "no powers" just a Tiger Force card.

The volunteers' job is to inform the government of rising prices, and the administration does not pay them for it, Faraz added.