According to the press report, the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet has accused the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association of behaving like the East India Company. I agree with Shaukat Tarin that most politicians are owners of sugar mills including President, Speaker of National Assembly and the leaders of PML-N. Some questions need to be answered here; for instance, who are the middlemen that buy sugarcane from the growers/farmers and sell it to the sugar mill owners? Who are the sugar dealers that make forward purchases of sugar from the mills? Why does TCP purchase stock from sugar mills when they are producing it in excess of market demand? Why is the government support price, virtually the national exchequer, is used to help sugar mill owners make profit? Why aren't the mill owners paying up the growers for supply of sugarcane? Why no action is taken against sugar mill owners for defaulting on payment to growers? Last, but not the least, why has de-zoning of sugarcane been done? -ENGR S.T. HUSSAIN, Lahore, via e-mail, January 3.