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KARACHI: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb vowed on Sunday that the government would not allow traders to carry out artificial inflation and would take action against hoarding and arbitrage, as experts warn of a looming food supply chain disruptions caused by devastating floods in Pakistan’s Punjab province. 

Floods in Pakistan’s Punjab, also referred to as the country’s breadbasket province, have wreaked havoc since late August, killing over 104 people and affecting more than 4.5 million people. Deluges have inundated thousands of fields of standing crops such as rice, sugarcane and vegetables. 

Economists and traders have warned that the floods, which are now moving downstream toward the southern Sindh province, may elevate food and overall inflation in the coming months due to crop losses and supply chain disruptions. This has sparked fears of traders hoarding products to create an artificial shortage and selling them at inflated rates later. 

“We [government] will not allow arbitrage to take place, hoarding to take place,” Aurangzeb told reporters during a visit to a flood relief camp in the eastern Toba Tek Singh city. 

“Because this is wrong, there should not be artificial inflation. So, we are looking at both the structural level and the administrative level, and god willing, will continue to take administrative measures against the hoarders.”

The minister said that while a lot of the destruction was triggered by climate change effects in Pakistan, some of it was also “self-inflicted.”

“We also have to see where we have to keep the population, where we have to do farming, where we have to build our [housing] societies and what their zoning laws should be,” Aurangzeb said. 

“I think it’s about time we also think about the self-inflicted pain.”

Aurangzeb said the government will assess the damages that the floods have inflicted on Pakistan’s economy within the next 10-15 days as floodwaters recede. 

“And on that basis, we will proceed together with everyone on a comprehensive basis,” he said. 

KARACHI: The foreign ministries of ��������, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkiye this week condemned militant attacks in northwestern Pakistan that claimed the lives of 19 soldiers, extending condolences to the victims’ families. 

Pakistan’s military announced on Saturday that 19 soldiers and 45 militants had been killed in separate clashes this week near the country’s border with Afghanistan in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. 

In one of these clashes, thirteen militants affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban were killed in an encounter in the South Waziristan district, the military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), adding that 12 soldiers also died in the clash. In another statement released later in the day, the military mentioned yet another incident in Lower Dir District where an intelligence-based operation on Sept. 11 led to the killing of 10 more militants. It disclosed that the shootout also led to the death of seven more soldiers. 

“The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of ��������’s condemnation of the terrorist attack that targeted Pakistani soldiers in northwest Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of several people,” ��������’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The UAE also strongly condemned the attack, announcing its “permanent rejection” of all forms of violence and “terrorism” aimed at undermining security and stability.

The foreign ministry of Kuwait issued a similar statement, conveying its condolences to the Pakistani government and people, wishing a speedy recovery to the injured. 

SHARIF ASKS AFGHANISTAN TO ‘CHOOSE’

After visiting wounded troops at northwestern Bannu’s Combined Military Hospital on Saturday, Sharif asked Afghanistan to “choose” between militancy and Pakistan. 

Pakistani officials frequently accuse the administration in Kabul of facilitating cross-border attacks, a charge Afghan authorities rejected, saying Pakistan’s security troubles were domestic.

“Terrorists come from Afghanistan and, together with the TTP, these khawarij join forces to martyr our soldiers, our brothers and sisters and ordinary citizens,” the Pakistani prime minister said, referring to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militant group. 

“Today I want to send a clear message to Afghanistan,” he added. “Choose one of two paths. If they wish to establish relations with Pakistan with genuine goodwill, sincerity and honesty, we are ready for that. But if they choose to side with terrorists and support them, then we will have nothing to do with the Afghan interim government.”

Pakistan has been struggling to contain surging militancy in KP, which borders Afghanistan, since a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban and the state broke down in November 2022.
The Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups have frequently targeted security forces convoys and checkpoints, as well as carried out targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in recent months.