As inflation in Pakistan continues to remain high, long queues for food showcase the desperation of Pakistani citizens, as making ends meet with depleting sources of income is becoming quite tricky, the Dawn newspaper reported.
In a recent occurrence, mismanagement hampered both official and private attempts to provide food to those on the breadline, as was seen during Friday’s fatal stampede in Karachi. The incident took place inside a factory near the Naurus crossroads in Karachi’s SITE neighbourhood.
Hundreds of women and their children had gathered to get food assistance and zakat that the factory’s owner was distributing on Friday when the stampede took place and killed at least 12 individuals.
Both the local government and the police claim that the organisers did not make the charity drive known to them. However, the state’s efforts could not have been worse planned. At official free flour distribution events in Punjab and KP, a number of people have died, while trucks have been looted in KP.
People have frequently complained that officials’ hands are getting greased or that individuals with “connections” are receiving flour, Dawn reported. Also, it is saddening to see women and the elderly jostled and manhandled while waiting in line for a few flour sacks for hours on end.
According to the Dawn, there have been multiple stampede incidents across Pakistan due to the unorganised distribution of free flour, which led to the deaths of various inflation-hit people who gathered to collect food. A large number of inflation-hit people gathered at a factory to collect flour, but due to the stampede, most of them, in the end, reached the mortuary.
