An anti-India hysteria whipped up by the politicians is responsible for tomato prices peaking at Rs.300 per kg in Lahore and other cities in the country, a Pakistani daily said in an opinion piece on Friday.
The article, published by the Dawn newspaper, criticized the government for not allowing import of ordinary goods from India and said that the anti-trade hysteria has hurt the ordinary citizens in Pakistan.
Slamming a Pakistan minister's justification that “Why pass on the advantage to foreign farmers instead of our own?”, it said the lawmaker needs be taught a lesson by throwing a whole load of rotten tomatoes on his head.
The article also criticised the minister for suggesting that “an influential mafia” has been trying to resume Indian imports which “would not be allowed”.
The policy of favouring homemade products and ignoring the welfare of the consumers, who vastly outnumber the former is simply unacceptable, it said, adding the government is elected to enhance the welfare of the majority.
“The fact of the matter is that a blind nationalism is at the bottom of this ridiculous anti-trade stance that is hurting the budget of the vast majority of citizens,” the author said in the opinion piece.
“At the time when tomatoes were selling for Rs300 a kilo in Lahore they were available at Indian Rs40 a kilo in Amritsar a mere 30 miles away.
“But a visceral Indo-phobia, shared by many of our influentials, stood in the way of consumers benefiting from the lower priced supply,” he wrote.
