A large number of farmers, under the banner of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI), marched from Data Darbar to the Charing Cross and staged a sit-in against `anti-farmer policies’ of the PML-N government outside the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday (today).
Armed with canes and sugarcane sticks and carrying placards, the farmers blocked The Mall for traffic. Skirmishes between the farmers and motorists also occurred over the blockade of the road.
The provincial government has been accused of arresting and harassing thousands of farmers in the provincial capital and all over Punjab ahead of a sit-in.
Police began a crackdown on PKI leadership and members from Khanewal on Monday night and extended it to other districts like Pakpattan, Sahiwal, and Vehari.
The PKI had announced symbolic funeral procession of agriculture sector from the Punjab Assembly to the Governor’s House for Wednesday (today) and march on Islamabad on Sept 29.
In the provincial capital, police kept raiding various places, including the office of an opposition party’s Kissan wing, to detain farmers.
Pakistan Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Mahmud Khokhar alleged that unprecedented hindrance and arrests had been made.
The demands of farmers are genuine and we believe Pakistan and future of our generations could only be saved by protecting and giving relief to the agriculture sector, he said.
However, the farmers union said that they would keep on protesting peacefully in Punjab according to their plan whereas they would protest in Islamabad on 29 September.
[…] Punjab government’s anti agriculture policy may lead to an unassailable wheat shortage in the country. Millions of dollars worth of wheat weighing about 9.9 tons has been left unattended by the government. Not purchasing it from farmers has left it to rot in the go-downs which will be useless after a short time. […]
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