The federal government has decided in principle to import up to 0.4 million tons of duty-free wheat to avert the flour crisis in the country. Talking to mediapersons at MQM-P's Headquarters here Saturday, Jahangir Tareen senior leader PTI said the government has already taken a number of steps for sufficient supply of wheat to control the wheat flour prices.

"Two months back some 0.4 million tons of wheat was allocated to Sindh from the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) stocks, however, it has been observed that Sindh has lifted some 0.1 million tons out of the allocated 0.4 million tons," he maintained.

Now, National Logistic Cell (NLC) has been directed to supply some 10,000 tons of wheat daily to Sindh to bridge the supply and demand gap and control the soaring prices of the commodity, he added.

In addition, the federal government has decided in principle to import duty-free wheat for domestic consumption. "Formal approval for import of 0.3-0.4 million tons of wheat will be given in the next Economic Coordination Committee meeting to be held on Monday," Tareen added.

He said that the import will be allowed till the arrival of new crop in March.

In a bid to settle the disputes with its disgruntled ally - MQM-P, a high-level Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) delegation comprising Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Asad Umar and Jahangir Tareen met Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leadership at their Bahadurabad HQ.

During second round of talks in a week, both parties said they made "visible progress" and decided to hold third round of talks in Islamabad in next few days.

"The people of Pakistan will hear good news soon," said Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, speaking to media after the meeting between the two parties, said they discussed the problems and a consensus would be developed soon, adding that both parties would meet again soon in Islamabad to further discuss MQM-P's reservations.

"We joined government without vested interests," MQM-P's convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said, adding that MQM-P had given the ruling party "unconditional support" during the hour of need.

He said MQM-P is fighting the case of the common man and had been waiting for a long time for the federal government to resolve their issues.