The farmer organization of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) held a protest demonstration in front of Peshawar Press Club (PPC) and warned of nationwide strike if the federal government did not turn down the summary moved by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for converting the agriculture research land of National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) into a housing society.
The farmers associated with the KP Farmers Association and Olive Farmers’ Association gathered in front of PPC and demonstrated against the CDA summary, chanting slogans “No Compromise on NARC”, “PM must reject CDA summary,” “Save NARC from land mafia” and others.
The demonstrators marched towards press club and later the representatives of the associations held a press conference to apprise the media about the onslaught attempt by CDA on agricultural research land.
They highlight the importance of NARC for the research and for overall development of the agriculture sector of the country.
“The farmers of KP will protect the interests of agriculture sector for the larger interests of the nation and would come on the streets and roads throughout the country to defend the NARC against land mafia,” said Olive Farmers Association President Israr Ahmed.
He said that the farmers will not refrain from shedding their blood for this sacred cause. “We will sacrifice our lives and shed our blood to defend national institutions like NARC,” he said, warning the government not to push the farming community against the wall, which would have catastrophic consequences.
Speaking on the occasion, KP Farmers’ Association president said that if the NARC was converted into housing society, it would be disastrous for future of the country. “So we will protest against the move to save agriculture sector.”
