Pakistan: Chaos erupts outside flour distribution centre

PESHAWAR: Chaos erupted outside a flour distribution centre in Peshawar after police fired tear gas shells at the crowd, Dawn reported.

Police officers were stoned by the public for obstructing their entrance to the centre.

The event, which happened on Saturday at around 12 o'clock at the Hayatabad Township sports stadium here to obtain free wheat flour as part of a government programme, did not result in any injuries, though.

According to a police official who spoke to Dawn, the district administration used volunteers from civil defence and the police to help control the throng and distribute the flour.

He, however, said the stones pelted by the mob smashed window panes of the building. The official insisted that those people had shown up from nearby areas after learning about flour distribution, Dawn reported.

The police hadn't registered any FIR, the official said. In the meantime, the Jamaat-i-Islami organised a protest march in the Arang neighbourhood in the Utmankhel tehsil of the Bajaur tribal region, where they alleged corruption, irregularities, and poor management in the distribution of free wheat, reported Dawn. Pakistan is facing a severe flour shortage.

On Friday, in Karachi, at least 12 people have been killed, including 9 women in the stampede on Friday during a ration distribution drive in a factory, Geo News reported. According to rescue officials and police authorities in the region, three children were killed as well. Also, six people passed out during the stampede, rescuers informed Geo News.

Police officers said that a sizable crowd had gathered at the location while the ration was being handed. Pakistan is facing a major economic crisis triggered by a series of corrupt and failed governments, military coups, rising international debts, no major exports, and a major class divide, Asian Lite reported.

The country has reportedly doubled its debt roughly every five years over the last 25-year period.

Prices are going up and the government has failed to provide basic amenities like gas and power, the report said.