A fatty friend of Lean Bernard Shaw once said to him "George If you go abroad, the people may think Britain is a famished country". "If you go along with me, they may understand the reason for it", Bernard Shaw retorted. George Bernard Shaw's observation regarding social disparity was no specific to Britain of his time. This is equally true today and aptly applicable to modern Islamic Republic of Pakistan. According to official Economic Survey for the current financial year released recently the rich-poor gap has widened. The gap between the rich and the poor indeed further widened during years of Musharraf's misrule. The ratio of the highest and lowest quintile, which means the gap between the rich and the poor on the basis of consumption deteriorated from 3.76 in 2000-01 to 4.2 in 2005-06 at the national level indicating a growing rich-poor divide. The inequality based on consumption is generally less than inequality based on income. The year 2007 saw Pakistan facing the most severe food price inflation and food emergency in history. The country was starving despite having harvested a bumper wheat crop. With the start of harvest season the demand and wheat prices in the international market increased. The price of wheat in Pakistan was 200 US dollars. It was double in international market. At this point of time the then unscrupulous federal government took an unprecedented step, which facilitated a particular political-cum business group to pocket billions in a couple of weeks. Undermining the strategic objective of first of all procuring wheat for the country's need, it allowed export of wheat even before the target of 5 million tons' procurement was achieved. This encouraged the pro-Musharraf cum Shaukat Aziz coterie to purchase wheat directly from farmers and export it. The official buyers such as Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO) and food department were bypassed. There were reports that in order to further facilitate the favourite hoarders' mafia, some of the provincial government officials deliberately adopted a go-slow approach in wheat procurement. In the meantime the intended beneficiaries with overt and covert official patronage offloaded about 1.2 million tons of wheat stock. It was later smuggled out to the Middle East, India, Iran and Afghanistan. The wheat exports also had the negative effect of starting the spiral of food inflation. Flour became an elusive and most sought-after commodity. According to a survey report of UN World Food Programme covering the year to the end of March 2008, the number of food insecure people increased from 60 million to 77 million. As compared to the previous year the increase was 28 per cent. This means that nearly half the population was food insecure. During the last three to four years some 11 million people have joined the group of the poor in the country identified on the basis of one dollar a day per capita income. The last eight years of military misrule has pushed 16 million people to the pool of poverty. Many economists have warned that if the situation remains static in the next four years, about 22 million of the country's 40 million poor will be further marginalized to become "desperately hungry". The new elected government has to cope with plethora of problems. For many the independence of judiciary essentially involving reinstatement of judges of superior courts despotically deposed by Musharraf is basic to the leverage to salvage the country from its abysmal socio-economic situation. To beat poverty the new budget envisions Benazir Income Support Programme under which a cash grant of Rs 1000/- will be paid per month to each qualifying household. On face of it this appears to be a partisan approach benefiting 'jialas' alone. Secondly this may be insufficient and useless for the probable beneficiaries to fight with sky rocketing foods price-hike. The right to food was formally recognised since the adoption of the United Nations Universal declaration of human rights in 1948. Pakistan despite being an agricultural country is ranked way down at 88 among 119 developing countries included in Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2007 and falls in the category in which hunger situation is deemed "alarming". Food to citizens in Pakistan constitution falls under the principles of state policy chapter with specific heading of promotion of social and economic well-being of the people. Thus this is not described as a fundamental right that is justifiable. And the courts cannot enforce citizens' right to food as is prevalent in 54 other countries. The result is that the state authorities in Pakistan treat it as a charitable endeavour. There is a need to enshrine this right in the chapter of fundamental rights in the basic law of the land. An NGO Action Aid is pioneering a campaign for hunger free Pakistan. Its nine-point comprehensive course of action includes conducting research studies in order to ascertain impact of the crisis on the poor and organizing stakeholders' fora at national and provincial levels to highlight the issue vis-a-vis current food crisis and to propose policy alternatives. The Action Aid needs all the support. More than Fabian socialism of George Bernard Shaw, Islam stands for egalitarian hunger-free society.