Flour millers blame Punjab ban for wheat crisis

As consumers continue to pay inflated prices for various flour types, millers have accused the Punjab government of creating an artificial wheat and flour crisis by imposing a ban under Section 144 on the inter-provincial movement of wheat and related products. The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) South Zone argued that such restrictions contradict the wheat deregularisation policy and violate Article 151 of the Constitution, which allows the free movement of goods across provinces. The association warned that provincial-level curbs inevitably lead to nationwide disruptions. PFMA South Zone Chairman Abdul Junaid Aziz, in a letter to Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain on Tuesday, said the ban had placed wheat stocks worth billions of rupees at risk in Punjab, especially in the wake of recent floods. The restriction also deprives consumers in other provinces of access to lower-priced flour.