- Farmers call for tax cuts, subsidy and flat support price of five crops
After successful dialogue with Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a second group of the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad called off their protest late on Monday evening.
The CM assured the protesting farmers that implementation of the Kisan package would be ensured at all costs. He said he was fully aware of the sufferings of the farmers and had already called five meetings for implementation of the package. CM Sharif said he would advocate for the right of farmers at every platform.
Earlier, the second group of the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) staged a sit-in outside the Punjab Assembly at Faisal Chowk (Charing Cross), days after the first group had done the same before ending their protest when the government formed a committee to address their grievances.
The protesting farmers gathered under the leadership of Khalid Khokhar, whose supporters believe he leads the real Pakistan Kisan Ittehad organisation and is, therefore, the real representative of the farmers across the country.
The supporters and Khalid Khokhar himself point to the fact that theirs is the only registered group and has been fighting for the farmers’ rights for a long time.
Farmers from different cities, towns and rural areas of Punjab were gathered and staged a sit-in in scorching heat to push for their demands. All roads leading to Mall Road were blocked during the protest. Blockage of one of the city’s busiest roads on all sides added to problems faced by the commuters as well as patients, as many ambulances were seen stuck in the traffic jam.
The protesters were carrying banners, flags and were chanting slogans against the government. The leaders criticised the anti-Kissan policies of the government in their speeches.
THE DEMANDS:
The demands put forth by the protesting farmers were almost the same as the other group’s. They were demanding the government to eliminate general sales tax imposed on the agriculture sector, to remove arrears imposed on water tube-wells being used for agriculture and the supply of electricity for tube-wells at the rate of Rs 5 per unit.
They also demanded the government to fix the rates of five crops including cotton, corn, rice, potato and wheat while they also demanded of the government to stop agricultural trade with India.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while addressing to the protesters, said that his party was standing with farmers and they will keep on raising the issue of farmers at all forums. He said that agriculture was handed over to the provinces in the 18th amendment but rulers do nothing for the betterment of the farmers.
KPI President Khalid Khokhar said that the PML-N government is never serious about the rights of farmers. He gave ultimatum to fulfill their demands before 3 pm Tuesday (today) otherwise they will go to Islamabad to stage a sit-in in front of the parliament house.
Chaudhary Sarwar said that he is proud of being a son of a farmer. He said the government policies have failed to give farmers their rights. He said that rulers are not concerned about the suffering of the farmers as they have failed in providing the necessary facilities to the farmers.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed took the government to task and said that farmers will not be happy as long as the Sharif brothers are ruling in the country. He said that if the government sticks with its policies then nobody can stop the bloody revolution. He asked the farmers to throw out the rulers from the parliament.
THE OTHER GUYS:
On May 18, another of the farmers’ faction staged a protest which was led by Chaudhary Anwer. During yesterday’s protest, the number of farmers in attendance was even larger than during the sit-in led by Chaudhary Anwer.
The protest was also joined by the farmers’ representatives belong to the Sindh province. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Abdul Aleem Khan, Chaudhary Sarwar, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Umar Cheema and other leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf joined the protest and delivered their speeches. President of Pakistan Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rasheed also joined the protest to express solidarity with the farmers.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan had already announced to join the farmers’ protest during his address in Faisalabad the other day.
While the protest caused traffic jam on the Mall Road, arguments and scuffles were also witnessed between protestors and citizens when the citizens were barred from cross the road.
Negotiations between Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and farmer leaders were still going on at the time of the filing of this report.
