"No Motorcycle Rally": People Chase Wheat Truck Amid Pak Food Crisis

A video bringing home the deepening food crisis in Pakistan was widely shared online today in which a group of people on two-wheelers were seen recklessly chasing a vehicle. The accompanying tweet from Professor Sajjad Raja, chairman of National Equality Party JKGBL, said it was a truck carrying wheat flour the people were chasing.

"This isn't a motorcycle rally, ppl in Pakistan are desperately chasing a truck carrying wheat flour, hoping to buy just 1 bag. Ppl of #JammuAndKashmir should open their eyes. Lucky not to be Pakistani & still free to take decision about our future. Do we have any future with?" the tweet read.

The video shows the bikers rushing to the truck as it stopped, waving bunches of currency notes. A couple managed to get a sack of flour and were immediately besieged by others.  

Pakistan is facing its worst food crisis in recent times, reported news agency ANI.

The local media reports that there is an acute shortage of wheat flour in many parts of the country. Since last week, flour prices have skyrocketed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan provinces. A packet of flour is being sold for 3000 Pakistani rupees, ANI reported.

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is on the verge of food riots. The people are holding Islamabad and the PoK government responsible for the acute shortages. The government supply of subsidised wheat has nearly stopped altogether, and the prices of other essentials have skyrocketed as well, reported ANI.

On Saturday, police lathi-charged a crowd in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The crowd had besieged a truck loaded with subsidised wheat flour bags and threw stones at its driver and later, the police, reported the Pakistan daily Dawn.