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KARACHI: Pakistan’s Food Security Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain announced on Wednesday that a nationwide crackdown against those attempting to disrupt the sugar supply in the country through hoarding and profiteering was underway, amid Islamabad’s attempts to stabilize the commodity’s price. 

Market analysts have said retail sugar prices in several parts of the country have risen sharply since January, surging to Rs200 [$0.70] per kilogram. In Pakistan, high sugar prices have triggered public outcry and become flashpoints for opposition criticism in the past, with allegations of hoarding and cartelization frequently surfacing in election years or periods of economic volatility.

Hussain chaired a meeting with representatives of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) and other key stakeholders from all provinces on Wednesday, the national food security ministry said in a press release. It said the meeting aimed to review the current sugar market situation, pricing trends, and supply chain dynamics.

“During the meeting, the Federal Minister expressed serious concern over the artificial hike in sugar prices and warned of strict action against all those who are involved in hoarding and market manipulation,” the statement said.

“He announced that a nationwide crackdown is currently underway against those disrupting the sugar supply chain.”

Hussain noted that due to the government’s “decisive actions,” sugar prices have started to decline significantly from Rs200 per kg to Rs. 175–180 [$0.61-0.63] per kg in various markets.

The minister warned sugar mills that were not releasing their existing stocks that the government would not tolerate hoarding, directing all provincial governments to ensure the timely lifting of sugar from mills and facilitate its smooth transportation to markets.

Hussain noted the “exploitative role” of certain middlemen and market intermediaries, saying they were capitalizing on the market’s volatility.

“The federal and provincial authorities are now actively pursuing legal and administrative actions against such elements to curb unjust profiteering,” the ministry said. 

The minister later chaired a high-level meeting of the Steering Committee on Sugar Imports, where all technical, procedural, and operational challenges related to sugar importation were reviewed and resolved, the food security ministry said. 

Earlier this month, Pakistan announced it would import sugar in two phases. In the first phase, a tender for 200,000 metric tons of sugar would be issued, followed by another tender for 150,000 metric tons after one week, the ministry said. 

The ministry also announced it had decided to waive all duties and taxes on sugar imports to ensure the product is available at affordable prices.

QUETTA, Pakistan: A father has shot and killed his teenage daughter and nephew in a so-called “honor killing” in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, police said on Wednesday, days after a similar killing sparked outrage across the country.

The incident took place Tuesday evening in the Lashar Abad area along Quetta's Qambrani Road, and came just days after a viral video showed a young couple being executed in a separate honor killing in

Balochistan's Digari area in Quetta district. That case, involving a tribal jirga ordering the deaths of a woman and man over an alleged illicit relationship, has drawn widespread condemnation and renewed calls for legal reform.

According to Abdul Majeed, the Station House Officer of Kechi Baig Police Station, the latest victims were identified as Ghulam Qadir, 19, and Nazneen, 18.

“The slain man and woman were cousins and the father, named Abdul Latif, shot and killed both his daughter and nephew inside his house,” Majeed told Arab News. “The girl was from the Lehri tribe and the boy hailed from the Rind tribe.”

The officer said the killings were motivated by accusations of an “illicit relationship” between the pair, adding that the case had been handed over to the Serious Crime Investigation Wing (SCIW) and a search was underway for the father, who was on the run.

The family of the male victim had retrieved his body for burial, but no one from the girl’s family had come forward to claim her, Majeed added. 

Rights groups say honor killings - the murder of individuals, often women, by relatives for allegedly tarnishing family “honor” - remain widespread in Pakistan, particularly in tribal and rural regions. Activists estimate as many as 1,000 deaths a year in the name of so-called honor.

Although Pakistan passed a landmark law in 2016 to close loopholes that once allowed families to “forgive” perpetrators, conviction rates remain extremely low, often below 2 percent, according to UN estimates. 

The recent video from Balochistan, showing the execution-style killing of a couple in the Digari area in Quetta district, reignited public debate over jirga justice and the state’s failure to prevent such crimes.

Police said 11 suspects had been arrested in the Digari case, including two men named in the first information report (FIR) filed by police after the killing.

That attack, caught on video, appeared to show the victims being shot in a mountainous area on the orders of a tribal council.