Farmers decry ‘arrests’ amid protest over wheat issue

LAHORE: Farmers bodies Monday claimed that their hundreds of members had been arrested as the government tried to quell the protest over falling wheat prices.

Police arrested about 250 members of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI), including its central president, in the provincial metropolis, as they were trying to reach the Punjab Assembly building for holding a demonstration, claimed Hasan Joya, the PKI spokesman.

In total, he added, around 1,000 farmers have been arrested from various parts of the province as they were heading towards the provincial capital.

The Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) also claimed arrests and high-handedness of police against protesting farmers. The farmers leaders arrested from the city, as per grower bodies claim, include Umair Masood, President PKI, Rasheed Minhala of KBP and Sabir Kamboh.

On Monday, in view of the protests, prisoner vans and water cannons were deployed by the police outside the Punjab Assembly. Large contingents of police were present at all major entrances of the city to stop the protesters from entering the city. Hence, farmers could not reach the Punjab Assembly. Scores of activists reached the GPO Square and Charing Cross.

Khalid Bath, Chairman PKI, strongly condemned what he called brutal use of force against the farmers. He added the government was using power against farmers instead of negotiating with them. He vowed to continue the protest until their demands are met.

Meanwhile, Ahsan Iqbal, senior PMLN leader and federal minister, held the interim government responsible for taking wrong decisions on the issue of excessive wheat import. He said that everyone knew that there would be plenty of wheat this year as per assessment of various departments, but one billion dollars of wheat was imported. He said action should be taken against those who had made such decisions.

He was of the view the prime minister has increased the target of wheat procurement by PASSCO. Iqbal stressed that the provincial governments should also interact with the farmers to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, talking to Geo News, Bilal Yasin, Punjab Food Minister, said on Monday night that the government would initiate wheat procurement once dry grains are available in the market. As moisture content in grains is higher due to rains, it would not be prudent to buy wheat.

He made it clear the provincial government would procure wheat only from small growers. The food minister didn’t share any details if Punjab would enhance wheat procurement target or not. Regarding losses to farmers due to low wheat prices, he said the provincial government would compensate the growers through direct subsidy.

To a question, the minister said the government did not want to arrange finances on high mark-up for wheat procurement as it would put excess financial burden. At the same time, the government wants to ensure lower price of roti in the province. He said the Punjab government would try to pay subsidy to farmers.

Meanwhile, the Punjab farmers moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday against the provincial government’s refusal to purchase wheat. A petition was filed by Farhat Manzoor Chandio in the Lahore High Court challenging the Punjab government’s refusal to buy wheat from farmers. The petitioner stated that the government was obligated to buy wheat from farmers at the official price and had announced a policy to purchase wheat at Rs3,900 per maund, but it has not been implemented.

The Punjab government was supposed to start buying wheat from farmers on April 22, but there have been no developments so far, leaving farmers vulnerable to selling their crops at lower prices due to rains. The petitioner urged the court to direct the government to purchase wheat from farmers and take action against the mafia.

On Sunday, the Food Department sources revealed that the government of Punjab has not yet decided on wheat procurement. Farmers leader Sultan Javed said that the deadline for the decision was Monday, and an announcement about the future course of action will also be made, according to sources.

He welcomed Prime Minister Shehbaz’s decision to increase the target of wheat procurement. “We hope the Punjab government will also make a similar announcement soon,” Sultan Javed added. Previously, the prime minister directed the federal government to purchase wheat from farmers. The PM also increased the target of wheat procurement from 1.4m to 1.8m metric tons, as stated by the PM Office.