The skyrocketing 133 percent gap between wholesale and retail prices for staples like potatoes and onions in Pakistan isn’t just a glitch in the system—it’s a moral travesty that lays bare the failures of provincial governance.

This isn’t about market fluctuations or supply chain woes; it’s about rampant profiteering flourishing under the noses of officials who seem indifferent to the plight of ordinary citizens. While families struggle to afford basic necessities, the apathy of those tasked with regulating prices—evidenced by chief secretaries in Punjab and Balochistan barely engaging with monitoring tools—fuels a crisis that squeezes the poorest the hardest. This is more than inflation; it’s exploitation, enabled by a system that has lost sight of its duty to the people.

The staggering 133 percent gap between wholesale and retail prices for essential goods in Pakistan isn’t just a statistic—it’s a gut punch to millions of households and a glaring failure of provincial leadership. This isn’t about market quirks or supply chain hiccups. It’s about a system where profiteering runs rampant, enabled by officials who seem to have forgotten their job is to serve the public.

Meanwhile, the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), tracked by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, showed a slight dip of 0.69 percent for the week ending April 17, with the SPI at 314.92 points compared to 317.12 the previous week. Year-on-year, it’s down 2.72 percent. But these marginal improvements mask a deeper, uglier truth: retail prices for staples like potatoes and onions are skyrocketing far beyond their wholesale costs.

Take Quetta, where potatoes retail at 133 percent above wholesale. In Lahore, onions carry a 60 percent markup, and in Karachi, it’s a jaw-dropping 106 percent. These aren’t minor markups chalked up to transport or labor—they point to either blatant price gouging or a complete breakdown in oversight.

The National Price Monitoring Committee’s recent meeting laid bare the dysfunction. In Punjab and Balochistan, the officials tasked with keeping prices in check are barely showing up. Punjab’s Chief Secretary checked the price monitoring dashboard three times in a month. Balochistan’s? Not once. Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Secretary logged in 88 times. The contrast is stark—one province at least tries, while others shrug.

Food inflation has been crushing Pakistani families for years, yet provincial governments act like it’s a new problem. The 18th Amendment handed them the reins to enforce fair pricing, but instead, they’ve left consumers at the mercy of middlemen and markets. The federal government isn’t blameless, but the real failure lies with provinces that can’t—or won’t—step up.

This isn’t just about numbers. It’s about people scraping by, forced to pay obscene prices for basic food while those in charge look the other way. If this doesn’t scream for accountability, what does?

The obscene gap between wholesale and retail prices in Pakistan—stretching as wide as 133 percent for essentials like potatoes—isn’t just a failure of governance; it’s a betrayal of the people. To let this exploitation fester is to turn a blind eye to the struggles of ordinary citizens, who are forced to bear the cost of unchecked greed while officials dawdle.

This isn’t about a lack of data or dashboards. It’s about a lack of conscience. Provincial leaders, from chief secretaries to district commissioners, must be dragged into the spotlight and made to answer for their inaction. Are local price controllers clueless or complicit? Either way, they’re failing. The National Price Monitoring Committee’s recent findings—showing Punjab’s Chief Secretary barely glancing at the monitoring system three times in a month, and Balochistan’s not bothering at all—reveal a shameful apathy. Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s 88 logins show what basic effort looks like. Why the disparity?

Words like “inflation” don’t capture reality. This is price gouging, plain and simple, hitting the poorest the hardest. A potato in Quetta retailing at 133 percent above wholesale, or onions in Karachi marked up 106 percent, isn’t a market glitch—it’s a racket enabled by absent regulation. Provincial governments, empowered by the 18th Amendment, have the authority to act but lack the will.

Enough with half-measures. Pakistan needs real-time price tracking that doesn’t just flag disparities but triggers swift, public penalties. Routine market inspections, hefty fines for profiteers, and naming repeat offenders are the bare minimum. If a government can’t ensure a fair price for a sack of onions, it has no business claiming it cares about its people.

The time for excuses ended long ago. Provincial administrations must either step up—cracking down on price manipulation with urgency—or face the consequences for abandoning the citizens they’re meant to serve. Anything less is a moral disgrace.

The time for half-hearted measures and empty promises has long passed. Provincial governments must act with relentless urgency, implementing real-time price tracking that doesn’t just highlight disparities but triggers immediate, transparent penalties. Routine market inspections, severe fines for profiteers, and publicly shaming repeat offenders are the bare minimum to restore trust. If those in power can’t ensure a fair price for a bag of onions or a sack of potatoes, they forfeit any claim to care about Pakistan’s economic hardship. The people deserve better than a system that abandons them to greed. Provincial administrations must rise to their responsibility—or face the rightful wrath of a nation betrayed by their inaction.