The Islamabad Police on Friday booked 180 farmers after firing tear gas shells, using water canon to disperse angry farmers, demanding their due right and relief in the federal budget hours before presentation at D-Chowk.
Later, during the budget 2017-18 presentation, the opposition parties Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), MQM and PTI strongly criticised the brutal reaction of Islamabad Police. Khursheed Shah said on the floor that PPP could not bear this at all.
Islamabad Police spokesman Zia-ul-Qamar while talking to Pakistan Today said that police have arrested 180 farmers who were protesting under the auspices of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad at D-Chowk.
“Police have shifted them to various police stations and the high-ups have not yet decided their future,” he said.
The police fired tear gas and used water canon to disperse them, restrict them to reach Red-Zone, by pushing them towards Jinnah Avenue. The farmers said they would not accept anti-farmers budget. “We will die even on the roads but will not endorse the budget,” they asserted.
“Recommendations are presented in the budget but none of them are implemented,” said one of the protester Muhammad Ali adding, ‘We work hard but cannot earn enough to survive’.
They said policies for growers are formulated by those who do not even know about the basics of agriculture. The farmers demanded of the government to abolish taxes on agriculture and fix the prices of commodities.
Moreover, a section of Metro bus was also shut down following the protest that was intensified as soon as police used tear gas to disperse the mob.
Opposition leader in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah also joined the protest in solidarity with the framers.
Speaking to the farmers, Shah said farmers strengthened economy but they were not facilitated by the rulers.
Zia said that six including DSP Idrees Rathore, DSP Hussain Lasi and Inspector Sitara Shah also got injured in the incident due to the stone throwing by the charged protestors.
He said that police first tried to resolve the matter amicably and also briefed the mob about the court orders in this regard, advised them other places to record their protest, which was their democratic right. “But due to behaviour, response and actions of certain persons, police were left with no option but to arrest the farmers and resorted to water cannons to help thwart the farmers in a bid to proceed towards Islamabad’s sensitive area,” he briefed.
Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has condemned the crackdown on peasants and farmers in Islamabad and termed it a dictatorial action by Nawaz Sharif government.
Announcing his support for the protest and demands of farmers, the PPP chairman said peasantry has been destroyed economically by PML-N government, which has proved the worst enemy of agriculture, which was continuously registering minus growth during the current regime.
He said that shelling and baton-charge on innocent farmers were part of the Sharif brothers’ anti-farmers policy as they have been ignoring and even facilitating protests by banned organizations in the capital city.
All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Chairman Pervez Musharraf has condemned the brutal torture over protesting peasants at D-Chowk in front of Parliament House.
In a statement, he said that the baton charge and tear gas shelling over the protesting peasants have exposed dictatorship of present regime under the veil of democracy.
“During my tenure, common man benefitted from the economic growth and for the first time peasants and labourers economically prospered”, he added.
APML chairman said that he would fight for the rights of peasants, labourers and marginalized segments of the society after returning to the country.
