Farmers launch protest move against agri tax from Swabi

SWABI: Launching a phased-wise protest movement, the leaders of farmers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday blasted the government for imposing tax on agricultural income and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

Addressing a meeting in Marghuz Town here, farmers’ leaders, including Ittihad-e-Keshtkaran, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, chairman Arif Ali Khan, Swabi tehsil chairman Attaullah Khan, Liaqat Yousafzai, Fazal Rabi Khan from Nowshera, Iqbal Khan from Shewa, Haji Ahmad Jan and others said that the incumbent provincial government imposed tax on agriculture after passing the bill from the assembly.

The participants through a unanimous resolution rejected the Agricultural Income Tax Bill 2025 and urged the provincial government to immediately withdraw this oppressive tax.

They said that similar rallies and meetings would be held in Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, southern districts, Malakand, and Hazara division to mobilize farmers for a strong movement to press the government for acceptance of their demands.The growers’ leaders also said that meetings with provincial assembly members would also be held to apprise them of their problems and convince them to support their movement.

The meeting demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to refuse to sign this bill. They alleged that the entire country was currently being run under the IMF directives.The farmers criticised the rulers for imposing huge taxes on petrol, diesel, gas, electricity and other essential commodities to sustain the luxuries of the ruling elite, while making life miserable for the common people.

They also assailed the massive hike in salaries and benefits for assembly members while imposing new taxes that burdened the poor and labourers.“Imposing tax on agricultural income is equivalent to destroying agriculture. If the government does not withdraw its decision, all farmers in the province would besiege the provincial assembly in protest,” the farmers threatened. They said that countries worldwide provided billions of dollars in subsidies to their agricultural sector and had exempted agricultural income from all taxes.

The farmers said these nations supported agriculture to ensure food security, but Pakistan was the only country that had ignored this crucial issue.

They praised Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial president Syed Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha for announcing support to the farmers’ protest movement against the agriculture tax.

It may be mentioned that Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha had recently met Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and apprised him of the problems being confronted by the farmers’ community.

He had termed the tax on landowners by the provincial government as oppressive, saying that the government had placed a heavy burden on farmers, which would adversely affect agriculture.