Imported bites

Dal is a humble meal. Be it the big boss man opting for a light meal in his air-conditioned office or his guard sweating in boots with a gun on his back, dal is ubiquitous across the country. Repeated calls for imported substitution and increased localisation of mobiles and cars seem to overlook that almost every bite consumed by any Pakistani is made of imported goods. Whether pulses, palm oil, condiments, spices or wheat for roti, Pakistan highly depends on its imports. There have been times when some varieties of dal were priced higher than chicken. For example, at one point in 2016, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar famously advised the country to eat chicken instead of lentils — at that time, mash daal was selling at Rs260 per kg, whereas chicken was at Rs200 per kg. Since then, prices have roughly doubled, with chicken at Rs400 per kg last month and Mash daal at Rs428 per kg, as per data by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.