LAHORE -All Pakistan Flour Mills Association held a grand meeting of its central executive committee here on Monday and announced four-hour daily countrywide strike in favour of ongoing protest of flour millers in Sindh.
Sindh government banned free movement of flour and wheat in the province and to other province which was illegal, said the members of the association while talking to media after their meeting.
The meeting, which is to be attended by office-bearers and members of executive committees of all the four provinces of Pakistan, decided to expand circle of strike nationwide,” said central chairman of the association Mian Mahmood Hassan. Strike will continue till the Sindh Food Department allows free movement of wheat from farms located in the interior of Sindh to flourmills in Karachi and other parts of the country.
“Out of a total 85 flourmills in Karachi, 81 are on strike,” he said, adding that officials of the Food Department, Excise Department and police personnel were demanding bribe of up to Rs10,000 per truck carrying wheat for the movement. In case of denial to bribe, the officials were diverting the trucks towards their warehouses, he told.
The meeting demanded export of wheat to Afghanistan in local currency. The members said that the government decided to ensure wheat export in Afghanistan in foreign currency and due to price difference between international and local market, the flour millers who invested billions of rupees in Afghanistan were losing the market of neighbour country. They also demanded to enhance allocation of wheat to Pasco to meet the food requirements of all the provinces.