ISLAMABAD SPECIAL COORESPONDENT
Former Prime Minister and Convener of Awam Pakistan Party, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, launched a scathing attack on the government during a press conference at the National Press Club, Islamabad, accusing it of enabling massive profiteering by sugar mill owners at the expense of the general public.
Abbasi claimed that non-representative governments prioritize their own financial interests over public welfare. “This government purchased sugar at prices higher than the international market but deliberately kept it out of the domestic market. As a result, sugar prices skyrocketed, and nearly 300 to 400 billion rupees were transferred from the public’s pockets into the hands of sugar mill owners,” he stated.
He alleged that government policies were deliberately designed to benefit sugar mill owners. Factories producing beverages and other goods were forced to buy expensive sugar, while imported sugar was withheld from the open market. “If that imported sugar had reached the people, they would have benefited,” he said.
Abbasi further claimed that even during sugar import operations, sugar mill owners were given undue relief, with preferential treatment and tax concessions. “Even today, the public is losing nearly one billion rupees daily to these sugar barons,” he added.
Highlighting the failure of governance, he noted, “Sugar prices have increased by 50% in just one year. Is there anyone accountable? At the very least, admit the mistake.”
The former prime minister criticized the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), saying, “NAB’s real job now is to protect corrupt elements and manipulate political alliances, not to ensure justice.”
He revealed that multiple committees, including a cabinet-level Sugar Monitoring Committee and at least seven or eight other bodies, are responsible for price regulation, yet all have failed to contain the crisis. “Even when the country was short on sugar, export permissions were granted, worsening the domestic shortage,” he remarked.
Abbasi pointed out that the sugar price has reached nearly Rs 200 per kilogram. “With every one-rupee increase in the sugar price, the public loses Rs 7 billion collectively. And still, there is no accountability,” he lamented.
He also highlighted inconsistencies in government policy: “Private sector exports sugar while the government imports it—at inflated prices. That imported sugar is not allowed into the open market. Instead, beverage and other industries are forced to buy it at higher rates.”
Concluding his remarks, Abbasi questioned the logic behind the pricing policy: “No retailer can buy sugar at Rs 185 and sell it at Rs 175. This is why sugar has vanished from the market.”
He warned that the ongoing sugar crisis is only one symptom of broader governance failures, with the wheat (flour) situation potentially even worse.
