By: Muhammad Zaeem Zahid
PTI seems to have mastered the political game show. ‘You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play it better than anyone else’ as is said by Dianne Feinstein, US Senator. The party in government has successfully flattered to deceive the mainstream media in the sugar crisis case. Tareen, who still is but considered to be an old close aide of the premier remained in the news, since the party’s rise to power. Sometimes due to his stratagem ways of gathering the independent candidates’ post-2018 elections, other times by covertly helping Pakistan’s Senate Chairman, Sadiq Sanjarani, to survive the vote of no-confidence. Tareen emerged as the de facto deputy PM, according to some public opinion makers. Others said he was indirectly ruling Punjab, until a few days back when PM publicized the sugar crisis probe report, which enlisted his name in it.
However, particularly in the sugar crisis case, Tareen will eventually be filtered out and remain safe. The residue will only contain beneficiaries from PML (N), Omni Group and others.
Imran Khan in February constituted the JIT under DG FIA, Wajid Zia, shortly after the sugar price hike to probe the case. This was an inswinging yorker by the captain to put an end to Media’s outcry of Jahangir holding a strong position in the party despite his political disqualification by the apex court. As the Machiavellian magic worked on the media, it has opened up two doors for the PTI led government: One, to delude the specific recalcitrant media groups, which are always ready to influence people with their farrago of opinions, albeit based on fact & mythology. Second, to bring all the big sugar fish in the fisher’s net by using the ‘Tareen’ card hence, killing two birds with one stone.
The initial inquiry report includes the names of the topmost political families with JDW, Jahangir Tareen’s corporation, making the most out of the sugar-business. However, this doesn’t end here. The party in government knew a trick worth two of that. Tareen’s rebuttal was ready even before the initial report broke out. Soon, after the inquiry report was made public by the government, PTI stalwart, Tareen was quick off the mark to respond to media hype against him while others with their names in the inquiry were left red-faced. His counter-arguments are simple and hold rationality. He is a Pakistani business magnate with 6 Sugar-mill units with 4 of them under JDW Group while the remaining two are a part of JK Sugar Mills. His sugar mills hold a 20 percent market share, which substantiates the idea of profit he makes with or without the subsidy. The numbers may vary.
The case majorly revolves around the export subsidy received by various sugar companies, which later led to a high sugar price in the domestic market. Not to anyone’s surprise, it was not Tareen but the Sugar Advisory Board, Competitive Commission, Ministry of food security & both the cabinets, central & provincial, which failed to ban the export of sugar for the year 2018-2019. Tareen & Co. received a 22.71 pc subsidy on exporting 17.24 pc of the total production of sugar. According to Tareen, there was no shortfall in the domestic market, and he still has enough sugar reserves to provide if the market collapses.
Convincingly, it was more of a ‘Sugarcane mafia’ and less ‘Sugar-mafia,’ which increased the sugar price. These ‘Sugarlords’ artificially created this shortfall which increased the ‘Sugarcane’ market price. The reason was simple – High demand and low supply, thus high price. Keeping in view, the provincial governments fixed sugarcane’s rate at 190/40kg.
Later, when the sugar’s market price reached new heights, the sugar mills were quick to receive a Rs.3 billion subsidy for its stabilization from the government. All the sugar-lords divided this subsidy amongst themselves. Not to forget, most of the sugar mill owners are wealthy landlords and have sugarcane farms. This gave them the opportunity to make money on every step of sugar production. Firstly, they used sugarcane, the raw material of sugar from their very own farms. Even then, they always managed to receive a subsidy from the government to keep the sugar price low in the local market. Secondly, they increased the sugar’s production cost by creating an artificial shortfall in the market, which later led to a sudden surge in the sugarcane price. Thirdly, they acquired a rebate (a partial refund to someone who has paid too much for tax, rent, or a utility) on sugar export.
The whole Pakistan Sugar Mills Association has always been the beneficiary of money made on sugar, and not only Tareen. The devil’s share was due for a long time, so the government planned a maneuver and played its move to capture the sugar devils. It is quite similar to chess, where sometimes you have to sacrifice your best piece to checkmate the opponent.
However, particularly in the sugar crisis case, Tareen will eventually be filtered out and remain safe. The residue will only contain beneficiaries from PML (N), Omni Group and others. And finally, the sugar magic trick will be over. The inquiry report has already mentioned the names of all the ‘Sugar Magicians’. Now is the time for the government to put the final nail in the coffin, and end these sugar tricks forever.
On the other hand, media turned a blind eye to 74 other sugar mills and only pulled in the old rhetoric of ”WhyTareen” after his name appeared in the report. With this coming in, both the print & electronic media started making speculations about a probable break in the IK-Tareen relationship. But no one knew that all in all, the government played the role of a fisherman. This was the fisherman’s catch. Show Tareen as sardine and catch all the big fish in the sea.
The writer is a freelance journalist & can be reached at [email protected]