Farmers end protest after successful negotiations with govt

LAHORE: Farmers ended their sit-in protest at the Chairing Cross, after negotiations with the government yielded successful results, on Wednesday. 

The Pakistan Kissan Ittehad and Punjab government held successful negotiations with the government, after a day-long sit-in protest at the Chairing Cross. The protesting farmers had demanded release of their fellow arrested farmers, cheap electricity for tube wells and removal of the GST. Kissan Ittehad Punjab President Rizwan Iqbal said while speaking to media personnel at Chairing Cross that the government had approved all of their demands and a delegation of the farmers would meet CM Shahbaz Sharif tomorrow. 

Rizwan Iqbal then announced the end of the sit-in protest, after which the farmers dispersed peacefully. 

Earlier, a traffic jam had ensued as farmers had blocked traffic at Lahore's Chairing Cross area during their protest, which had been going on since Tuesday. Leaders belonging to various political parties arrived at the venue to voice their support for farmers and their demands. PPP leaders Khursheed Shah and Qamar Zaman Kaira and Manzoor Wattoo arrived to express their solidarity with the aggrieved farmers. The PPP leaders were accompanied by lots of workers and party supporters as they made their way to the Chairing Cross. 

Not to be outdone, PTI had also sent its representative Chaudhry Sarwar at Chairing Cross where the protest sit-in had been staged by the farmers, to convince them that the party would speak for their rights. PPP leader Khursheed Shah had spoken about the concerns of the farmers and blamed the government for their flawed policies, stating that it had created the current problems for them. 

The sit-in protest had created difficulties for citizens, who had to take alternative routes owing to the traffic jam which had been caused by the sit-in protest.