The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the request of the inquiry commission, probing into sugar crisis, to extend the time for submission of the report by three weeks on the latter’s request. It is worth recalling that GVS already reported that the sugar crisis report was unlikely to be submitted on April 25.
Cabinet gives inquiry commission three weeks to present forensic report on sugar crisis#ARYNews https://t.co/el2nrfstDL
— ARY NEWS (@ARYNEWSOFFICIAL) April 28, 2020
On Tuesday, PM talked at length about the sugar crisis report during the meeting. Moreover, the PM also approved the relief package for healthcare workers performing their duties to contain coronavirus. If the healthcare worker dies in the line of duty, it shall be entitled to the same package –Shuhada Package– as government servants in cases of security-related deaths.
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Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, Federal Minister for Railway, had already claimed in a private talk show that the report was unlikely to be published. “There shall be no report, I think,” he said. “Any report can disrupt the political process in the country, therefore, I believe that there may be some tactics to delay the report,” he added.
Report to be submitted on the 25th of April
On the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the reports of the inquiry committees tasked to probe sugar and wheat crises in the country were made public on the 4th of April. According to the inquiry committee. There are six groups which control about 51% of the production of sugar in Pakistan, JKT’s Group JDW, controls 19.97% production, RYK Group (Khusro Bakhtiar) group control 12.24%, Al-Moiz Group controls 6.8%, Tandlianwala Group 4.9%, Omni Group 1.7% and the Sharif family owns 4.5% of the production, revealed the report.
LATE Forensic Report of SUGAR CRISIS! Who wants to save CULPRIT of "ATTA… https://t.co/p46SONemsB via @YouTube
— Arif Hameed Bhatti (@arifhameed15) April 24, 2020
Informed sources told GVS that some MNAs and MPAs have ensured JKT of their support. “We are with Tareen shb,” the MNA from South Punjab said. There are also reports that if the commission presents its report on the 25th, there may be a strong reaction from Punjab.”
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It is important to note that earlier this year, following the shortage of wheat flour in the country and the subsequent price hike, sugar had also gone missing from the market. Taking notice of the situation, the prime minister had formed a committee to find out those responsible for the crises.
Talking about the 2 committees set up to develop the sugar crisis report: The prime minister had constituted two high-powered committees headed by the Director-General (DG) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) along with a senior officer of the Intelligence Bureau and the DG of the Anti-Corruption Establishment of Punjab to investigate the causes behind the crises and price hike of those commodities. The prime minister had further directed the committee on sugar to conduct forensic analysis of sugar mills to further expand the findings.
PTI’s senior leader Jahangir Khan Tareen has already questioned the criteria behind the audit of his nine sugar mills and the selection process by the committee formed to probe the matter. He also rejected the sugar crisis report. The PTI leader said that he does not object to the audit of his sugar mills under the committee. “Will the commission discover the reality behind all the sugar mills in Pakistan after conducting an audit of the nine mills?” said the businessman.
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It is yet to be seen whether the final sugar crisis report shall ever be presented to the premier for a careful consideration or not. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad believes that there is likely to be a delay in this process.