Bitter protests

One of the biggest tests of a government is how peacefully it can handle dissent. It was a test the Sindh government failed after it used excessive force on sugarcane farmers marching towards Bilawal House in Karachi on Monday. There is a serious dispute between Sindh’s sugarcane farmers and sugar-mill owners, who are notorious for how they treat farmers. The protest on Monday was called after the government set the official price of sugarcane at Rs182 per maund. The farmers, however, claim that they are not being paid the approved rate for the sugarcane they produce and that sugar mills have yet to even begin crushing the crop. According to the protesters, they have been paid Rs110 per maund. The focus of the protests was PPP co-chairperson Asif Zardari, whom the demonstrators believe owns 19 major sugar mills in Sindh and is the source of the delay.

As over one thousand farmers protested at Boat Basin in Karachi for an increase in procurement price, the roads to Bilawal House were blocked and police began to use tear gas and water cannons to stop the planned march. For years, the Sindh government has treated Bilawal House like a no-go zone, regularly blocking roads near the PPP chief’s personal residence and deploying violence against those who dare to protest there. This should not be acceptable in a free country where citizens have the right to petition their government over their grievances. Monday’s incident has led to further protests being launched, asking for the release of the arrested farmers. Arresting cultivators seems to be a terrible strategy at a time when the agricultural sector is already facing serious challenges.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah seems to be placing the blame on the federal government for no specific reason. Apparently the federal government not providing enough of a subsidy to sugar-mill owners and restricting sugar exports is the reason this dispute has emerged. However, it seems to be much more a product of the traditional unwillingness of sugar mills to start crushing until the very end to force farmers to sell at unrealistically cheap prices. The entire sugar industry is based on the exploitation of the small farmer. By law, sugar mills have to issue buying permits to farmers based on the size of their cultivated land. What they end up doing is issuing the permits only to middlemen who then force the farmers to sell the sugarcane at a lower price. This sort of monopolistic behaviour is clearly against the law but the Sindh government has shown no interest in tackling it. Worse yet, it used violence against those who dared protest it. It now needs to investigate why force was employed and then ensure that the demands of the farmers are heeded.