ISLAMABAD-The Ministry of Interior on Wednesday took some important decisions in an inter-ministerial meeting that was summoned to check across the border smuggling of essential commodities in the wake of their skyrocketing prices countrywide.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif co-chaired the meeting, which was held at the ministry.
It was the second highest level moot as part of the efforts of the federal government to check across the border smuggling of wheat, sugar, fertilizers, among other such supplies to control their demand and supply leading to decrease in their prices.
There are widespread complaints from federal and provincial governments that the increasing prices of essential commodities in the country during the last many months were a result of their smuggling to war-torn Afghanistan.
Minister of Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for National Food Security Tariq Bashir Cheema, Minister for Industries Makhdoom Murtaza Mahmud, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha, Secretary Interior Syed Ali Murtaza, and Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Asim Ahmed attended the meeting besides other representatives federal and provincial departments.
“An emergency situation has arisen due to smuggling of essential commodities across the border,” the Ministry of Interior said this in a statement while quoting the interior minister.
The interior minister urged action against those people who are involved in this illegal business and their facilitators. He said that action would also be taken against those officials who were facilitating smuggling. “There is a need to work on the intelligence sharing and joint operations of different institutions to check smuggling,” Rana Sana said. He advised that joint patrolling and joint check posts should be ensured as well.
The interior minister directed all the departments concerned to further activate the system of border control and keep a close eye on the inter-provincial transportation of essential items.
The meeting decided to install a track and trace system on vehicles transporting food items. It was also decided that steps would be taken to stop excessive supply of commodities in the border districts besides ensuring that there is no hoarding of such items in these areas.
The meeting also decided that laws would be amended to ensure a strict control mechanism and the Ministry for Law and Justice, and FBR would complete this task.