Heads roll in Punjab over flour, sugar crises

Punjab Food Minister Samiullah Chaudhry on Monday became the first causality of the FIA reports on the flour and sugar shortage in the country, as he tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

In his resignation letter, Chaudhry claimed that the allegations levelled against him were baseless and he was ready for accountability at any forum.

He submitted his resignation during a meeting with Buzdar, where he added that he did not consider himself eligible to hold any office till proven innocent.

On the other hand, Buzdar made former food secretary Naseem Sadiq an OSD. Naseem was currently working as Dera Ghazi Khan commissioner.

Similarly, former Punjab Food Department Director Zafar Iqbal has also been made an OSD with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, Punjab government spokesperson Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan said the resignation was a voluntary act and the report had been made public on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s directives.

The government has been facing severe criticism after the FIA said PTI top leader Jahangir Tareen, Federal Minister for Food Security Khusro Bakhtiar, PML-Q’s Moonis Elahi and their relatives were responsible for the crisis.

In his reaction, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif had said that it was a charge sheet against Imran and Buzdar.

He demanded a strict action over the outcome of the inquiry reports containing serious revelations.

“Let’s see what action the prime minister, who is the ECC chairman himself, will take against CM Buzdar for such a large-scale corruption and nepotism?” he added.