Farmers' protests intensify in Punjab province as politicians play blame game in Pakistan

Lahore: The provincial government of Punjab, under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif along with the Federal government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are faced with a major challenge of farmers, who are fast garnering political support and gaining stronger momentum against what they term as the government’s unfair wheat procurement policy.

Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI), a party representing the agriculture sector of the country including farmers, has slammed the government for failing to fulfill its commitment to purchase grain and reverse its decision to reduce the provincial procurement quota from over 4 million tonnes to 2.3 tonnes.

The issue, under contemplation between PKI and the provincial and federal government for over a month, has not triggered a massive anti-government protest campaign with a large number of farmers who have decided to not give anymore breathing space to the government and stage strong protests in Punjab.

The farmers insist that they sowed wheat crops to complete the requirement of the government, knowing that their ready wheat grains would be bought as per commitment.

However, they say that as their wheat crops are ready, the government is now reluctant to buy them, leaving the crops at the behest of the ongoing rains, which have already destroyed thousands of acres of ready-crop fields.

On the other hand, the Punjab government seems to have no answers to the farmers’ demands and seems to have opted to counter the fast-intensifying protests by the deployment of heavy contingents of police and anti-riot squads to stop protesters from blocking main roads and highways.

The government maintains that it already has a stock of at least 2.3 million tonnes of wheat, highlighting that it cannot procure 4 million tonnes this season, putting the blame on the caretaker government.

“The caretaker government imported around 3 million tonnes of wheat, which was more than the requirement of the province. This led to a huge carryover stock, leaving little capacity. This was why the Punjab government decided to slash the procurement target by half,” said a senior government official in the Punjab province. (IANS)

Also Read: No consensus between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PPP on government formation

Also Watch: