As reported by The News, Nanbais of Peshawar went on a strike on Monday in a bid to force the government to issue a new rate list after the increase sin the prices of wheat.
General Secretary Abdul Majeed Qureshi of the Nanbai Association said that the protest would continue till the government accepted their demands.
He said that rumours were circulating that the government intended to launch a crackdown against them. However, he maintained that the government had rendered them jobless and the crackdown could not deter them from demanding their due rights.
He claimed that officials of the district administration tried to persuade the nanbais to open businesses by claiming that no action would be taken against them for selling 100 gram roti for Rs10.
“It is very strange that the Peshawar district administration had refused to accept our demand when we demanded issuance of notification of 115 gram roti for Rs10,” he added. He said the strike would be extended to the entire province if the government did not accept their demands.
Is Pakistan in a wheat crisis?
Wheat prices across the country have sky rocketed over the past few days as fears of a looming shortage hit markets. The government has said it is doing all it can to contain the crisis, amid allegations from the opposition that the government is ill-equipped to deal with the issue.
The problem was exacerbated by a decision to export 200,000 to 400,000 tons of wheat, keeping in view surplus stocks on the basis of estimates presented by Ministry of National Food Security and Research, but the actual exports of wheat crossed 640,000 tons.
