Sindh Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) President Haleem Adil Sheikh has strongly reacted to alleged reports of massive wheat losses from the government warehouses in Sindh, terming it a clear manifestation of corruption and administrative failure.
He said the disappearance of wheat worth Rs13 billion from Karachi alone was sufficient proof of the Sindh government’s incompetence. A previous scandal involving Rs17 billion worth of missing wheat had already surfaced, while cumulatively, wheat valued at over Rs.100 billion had either gone missing or been left to rot in storage facilities across the province, he added.
The PTI leader said the disappearance of over 900,000 wheat bags from Karachi represented the ‘height of corruption’, adding that it was not merely financial mismanagement but a direct assault on the public’s rights. “Corruption prevails in Sindh to such an extent that even essential food supplies are no longer secure,” he said.
He further alleged that a corrupt system had remained entrenched in the province for the past 18 years, resulting in annual losses of up to Rs200 billion due to misappropriation and corruption in wheat stocks. He claimed that while large-scale corruption continued in development projects, wheat was simultaneously being siphoned off under a “well-planned conspiracy.”
The PTI leader also accused authorities of reinstating allegedly corrupt officials across Sindh, thereby strengthening a flawed system, which he termed a serious crime. Sheikh demanded the arrest of officials involved in the wheat scandal and strict legal proceedings against them. He urged the Sindh government to accept responsibility and ensure recovery of public losses from those responsible.
He lamented that despite recurring incidents of wheat losses worth billions every year, no one was held accountable, rendering the accountability system completely dysfunctional. He stressed the need for a transparent and impartial investigation into the scandal and called for exposing those protecting corrupt practices.
