In order to reduce food insecurity and inflation in this country, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif has ordered to take stronger measures to curb the smuggling of flour and other essential foodstuffs to Afghanistan.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - Kabul: Niki Asia reported today (Sunday, April 30) that Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif recently ordered stronger measures to curb the smuggling of food and essential items to Afghanistan.
 
According to the report, this order has been issued after Pakistan's Tax Collection Organization has declared flour, wheat, sugar and fertilizer as essential and needed items in this country.
 
The prime minister of Pakistan has ordered the country's space agency to provide satellite images of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to help curb the illegal trade of the mentioned items.
 
In the meantime, Pakistan's tax collection organization has stated in a statement, while specifying areas along the 2,500 km border of this country with Afghanistan to prevent food smuggling that according to customs laws, smuggling of essential items from Pakistan is punishable by a fine equal to the total price of the goods and two years in prison.
 
Following the issuance of this order, it is said that Lorries full of sacks of flour were confiscated in different parts of Pakistan. In the latest case, 440 thousand kilograms of wheat were seized on Wednesday last week.
 
Published information indicates that following Russia's attack on Ukraine, the country's wheat exports to Pakistan have decreased. Statistics show that in March of this year, Moscow once again established its position as a source of wheat exports to Pakistan by exporting 1.5 million tons of wheat to Pakistan.
 
Last year's floods in Pakistan, along with human losses, destroyed 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land in this country.
 
According to reports, Pakistan, as the fifth most populous country in the world, is drowning in economic crisis and is trying to stay afloat with little foreign exchange reserves.