According to The News, while presiding over a meeting in which the President of the Poultry Traders Association of Lahore Tariq Javed and other office-bearers participated, Mr Jatt termed the statement of Maulana Tahir-ul-Qadri regarding fixing of prices of poultry products by Hamza Shahbaz as baseless and concocted, and said it was not proper for a religious leader to level false allegations against an honourable parliamentarian.

Mr Javed said that a committee, constituted by the Lahore Poultry Traders Association and Tollinton Market Traders Association, fixed the rates of chicken meat and eggs in the provincial metropolis on a daily basis keeping supply/demand balance in view.

The Lahore Poultry Traders Association also strongly contradicted the statement of Tahir-ul-Qadri and said that this statement had been issued on the basis of wrong information.

Mr Jatt said the Punjab government protected the interest of the people that was why the prices of chicken meat and eggs were less than the other provinces. He said today the chicken meat rate was Rs.188 per kg in Lahore whereas in Karachi it was Rs.232 per kg and in Peshawar Rs.366 per kg.

He further added that the rates of eggs per dozen in Punjab were Rs.98 whereas in Karachi Rs.107 and Peshawar Rs.114. Therefore, the statement of Tahir-ul-Qadri about the prices of chicken meat and eggs was totally wrong.

He said poultry is the second largest industry in the country and a business of more than 200 billion rupees is generated and more than 15 lakh people are associated with this business. Therefore, not a single person or government official can influence prices in any respect, he concluded.

Among others, senior officers of the Livestock Department including Dr Israr Hussain Chaudhry, Director Communication and Extension, Deputy District Livestock Officer Poultry Dr Rahat Ali and Dr Iqbal Shahid, Deputy Secretary (Technical), were also present.