KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has written a letter to Prime Minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif for immediate redresses of the difficulties faced by the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to the restrictions imposed by the government of Punjab on the inter-provincial transportation of wheat.
In his letter, the chief minister has appealed the prime minister and diversion of his attention towards the sorrow fact that the government of Punjab after establishing check post on the bordering areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had banned the transportation of wheat to the later.
The restrictions, he said created hurdle in the procurement of the wheat target of 0.450 million ton for the current Kharif crop for financial year 2014-15. The step, the chief minister said in his letter can halt the provision of wheat and flour in next few months in general and during the period from November 2014 to March 2015 in particular.
The chief minister said that such kind of steps of the government of Punjab are repugnant to the decisions of federal government, spirit of federation and Article 151 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which guarantee free trade among the federating units.
The chief minister further states that it would not be unjustified to say that such restrictions on inter-provincial trade will generate lack of trust and sense of deprivation in the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Similarly, he said that it would further push the already crisis hit flour mill industry of the province into destruction. He said its telling is also necessary that such matters also create the problem of law and order, which in the prevailing internal and external situations is not good omen for the national stability. The chief minister appealed the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that he would be very grateful to him for personal interference in the matter and forbid the government of Punjab to review the policy of such restrictions.