Several videos have emerged from Pakistan highlighting the plight of the crisis-hit citizens. Many video circulating on social media show people standing in long queues for a bag of flour. One Twitter handle claimed that a woman died and two fainted due to "huge rush" and "lack of facilities at Punjab's free flour point".
50-year-old woman dies while queuing for flour and two others faint due to the huge rush of people and lack of facilities at Punjab's free flour point. Taj Bibi`s body was shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Chowk SarwarShaheed. pic.twitter.com/MmzJeodtWt
— Voicepk.net (@voicepkdotnet) March 21, 2023
پشاور کے چارسدہ روڈ پر قائم نجی فلار ملز کے باہر شہری مفت آٹے کے حصول کے لئے قطاروں میں کھڑے ہوکر ذلیل ہورہے ہیں @GovernmentKP @SamarHBilour @Jhagra @SaleemKhanSafi pic.twitter.com/2Cssgx4PAf
— Abubakar Saddiq (@AbubakarSaddiqB) March 25, 2023
Sharing a video shot in Peshawar, a Twitter user said: "Amidst unprecedented inflation and shortage of food items in country men and women are seen standing in a queue which is probably a mile long in one of govt subsidized wheat flour centres."
❗️🇵🇰 Yes Pakistan Is Happier Than India
Amidst unprecedented inflation & shortage of food items in country men and women are seen standing in a queue which is probably a mile long in one of govt subsidized wheat flour centres.Location: Fahad Flour Mills, #Peshawar, #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/5VdJ2GpkDa— OsintTV📺 (@OsintTV) March 26, 2023
Some claimed that there were no seperate queues for women, while others complained of chaos outside flour mills. A video purportedly showed police beating the citizens standing in queues.
1. Video thread on the floor crisis going on in #Pakistan.
People are not getting any atta for daily consumption.People are standing in long queues during this time to get flour.Police is beating them and situation is chaotic.Check out the thread.#PakistanUnderFasicsm pic.twitter.com/wlSinzaNIK— Tarangini das 🇮🇳💁♀️ (@Tarangini_das47) March 26, 2023
A person even claimed that a video showed a "truck carrying wheat being looted by locals in Islamabad".
Food Crisis in cash strapped #Pakistan as another truck carrying wheat got looted by locals in #Islamabad#PakistanBankrupt #PakistanEconomy #PakistanEconomicCrisis #PakistanCrisis #IMF #IMFBailout #ShehbazSharif #ImranKhan #ImranKhanRally #PTV #ARYNewsUrdu pic.twitter.com/mqQoi8T3ur
— Satish Iyer (@SatzStar) March 21, 2023
Chaos is visible in these videos purportedly shot in various regions in Pakistan. In one such video, people can be seen struggling for a kilogram of flour. "Two people including a man and woman died while 8 people have been injured during a free flour distribution point in Bannu District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," another Twitter user said.
People claimed that "Pakistan citizens are struggling to get free flour under Ramadan relief package".
The Pakistan government had earlier this month announced to provide special Ramadan relief package for "around 15 million underprivileged households". Free flour and subsidised petrol during Ramadan was introduced under this initiative.
However, citizens complained of several issues and one of them was that they were not able to scan their identity cards needed for claiming the relief package.
5. Pakistan citizens are struggling to get free flour under Ramadan relief package.
Pakistan government has announced to provide special #Ramadan relief package, for around 15 million underprivileged households to get free wheat flour in Ramadan.#Ramzan2023 #pakistan pic.twitter.com/xeFUub2fCI— Tarangini das 🇮🇳💁♀️ (@Tarangini_das47) March 26, 2023
Adding fuel to the food crisis, several areas, including Karachi, Quetta and Rawalpindi, in the cash-trapped country were left with low and no gas pressure on the first day of the holy month of Ramzan. This was despite the government announcing that gas would be available to consumers for sehri and iftar, Dawn reported.
Food crisis, unemployment and suicides
Pakistanis are facing a dire situation due to the ongoing economic as well as political crisis in the country. They remained hard-hit by the ongoing food crisis and rising inflation rates as the government struggles to secure a bailout package from the International Monetary Funds (IMF).
While the lower and the middle class remain the worst hit, impact was also seen on those are working as government servants after the government introduced the austerity package.
According to local reports, an unemployed man in Pakistan’s Surjani allegedly poisoned his wife and two little daughters and also attempted to end his own life due to unemployment.
The Pakistan government is believed to be unable to tackle issues of food security as it is busy tackling severe debt crises and high fiscal and current account deficits.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released a report where it said that inflation increased by 0.96 percent during the ongoing week. This marked a staggering annual increase of 45.64 percent. Prices of 28 basic necessities increased while prices of 11 basic necessities decreased, News 18 cited the report.
Skyrocketing prices of food items
The prices of essential items witness a two-fold hike during the rule of the PML(N)-led coalition, Dawn reported on March 13. The report said a market survey showed that prices of kitchen items and vegetables went up by 100 percent since April 2022.
A 20kg bag of flour was being sold at PKR 3,500 against its last year’s price of PKR 1,250, Dawn said. Prices of other commodities were as follows:
> Edible oil: PKR 700 per litre, hike from PKR 400 per litre from last year
> Good quality rice: PKR 380 per kg
> Channa, Masoor, and Moong pulses: PKR 280/kg, PKR 320/kg, and PKR 200/kg, respectively
> Besan (grams flour): PKR 280 per kg
#PakistanCrisis : Pakistan is Facing Its Worst-Ever Food Crisis, the price of flour beyond ₹1200.#Ramzan #pakistan #foodcrisis #crisis #nflation #wheat pic.twitter.com/D531jKsC5C
— News18 Ladakh (@News18Ladakh) March 27, 2023
Rationalise wheat price
Amid criticism over the distribution of free wheat flour in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Pakistan government has called upon the Gilgit-Baltistan administration to "urgently rationalise the cost of subsidised wheat for citizens in a phased, targeted manner", Dawn reported. It also asked authorities to charge the affluent people market rates to ensure a sustainable supply.
The reported further informed that the Gilgit-Baltistan elected government had earlier made a "commitment to increase flour prices, which are more than 10 times lower in the mountainous region than those in the rest of the country".
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