One person was killed and eight others injured in a scramble for free flour in Pakistan, a country plagued by record inflation, Thursday on the first day of Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims.
Hundreds of distribution points, to which millions of low-income families are registered, were set up by the Pakistani government during Ramadan, as the price of basic food items soared.
It was during one of these distributions, at the local market of Charsadda in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North-West), that “nine people were trampled on and transported to the hospital where one of them is deceased," said Muhammad Arif, the city's police chief.
Hundreds of people were then gathered to receive food, according to Mr. Arif.
heavy debt
Pakistan's finances have been wrecked by years of mismanagement and political instability, a situation exacerbated by a global energy crisis and devastating floods that left a third of the country under water last year.
The South Asian country is deeply indebted and must raise taxes as well as hike water and electricity prices to secure the release of a new tranche of the Fund's $ 6.5 billion bailout international monetary policy and avoid defaulting on payment.
