After Balochistan, tensions between Sindh and Punjab resurfaced on Thursday after the Sindh chapter of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) accused the Punjab government of halting wheat seed supply ahead of the sowing season, warning that the move could severely disrupt cultivation across the province.
According to a news report, PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro alleged that hundreds of thousands of wheat seed bags had been withheld by the Punjab Agriculture Regulatory Authority and the Punjab Food Department on provincial directives. He said the decision had raised fears of a substantial decline in Sindh’s wheat output if the supply was not restored immediately.
Khuhro called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take notice of what he termed an “anti-Sindh” action, describing it as unjust and harmful to farmers and labourers dependent on the crop.
“The Punjab government is preventing seed companies from delivering consignments already paid for by Sindh’s farmers and dealers,” he said, adding that the move amounted to economic discrimination against the province.
According to Khuhro, Pakistan produces about 552,000 tonnes of wheat seed annually, with Punjab-based suppliers accounting for nearly 516,000 tonnes. He said Punjab’s decision to block inter-provincial sales could jeopardise Sindh’s wheat cultivation plans.
The dispute follows renewed friction between the coalition partners after the PPP questioned the federal government’s wheat procurement mechanism. PPP Punjab Secretary General Hassan Murtaza recently criticised the process following the announcement of the minimum support price (MSP) at Rs3,500 per 40 kilograms, saying the abolition of the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) left farmers exposed to middlemen offering lower rates.
Punjab’s Information Minister Azma Bokhari responded sharply, urging the PPP leadership to address internal differences and warning that the PML-N would “respond in kind” if such remarks continued.
With Sindh’s sowing season already underway, the PPP warned that any delay in seed delivery from Punjab could have immediate consequences for farmers.
“This policy is not only anti-Sindh but anti-agriculture,” Khuhro said, adding that the federal government must ensure uninterrupted supply of certified wheat seed to all provinces to prevent disruptions in national food production.
Earlier, Balochistan raised the issue of a seed supply halt before the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Food Security and informed the panel that the Punjab Seed Corporation had stopped supplying seeds to Balochistan amid a severe nationwide shortage.
During the committee’s meeting, Balochistan’s agriculture secretary raised the issue before the committee, while the Federal Seed Certification Department confirmed that only 4,000 tonnes of seed were available against a national requirement of 68,000 tonnes.
The committee directed the Ministry of National Food Security to convene a meeting with provincial secretaries from Punjab and Balochistan to resolve the issue.
