Islamabad, April 19 (IANS) Protests were held in more than 100 cities of Pakistan to demand fixing of the minimum support price of wheat at Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 4,000 per maund, abolishing corporate farming, withdrawal of eviction notices issued to tenant farmers, and abandoning the plan to purchase wheat through 11 private companies, local media reported.
Protests were held on the call given by the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC) to mark the International Day of Peasant Struggles. PKRC stated that protests in Punjab were held in Toba Tek Singh, Jhang, Kacha Khooh, Jahanian, Iqbal Nagar, Lahore, Khanewal, Kabirwala, Pakpattan, Arifwala, Vehari, Kot Addu, Qadirabad, Chishtian, Hasilpur, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Multan, and Burewala, Pakistani daily Dawn reported.
Demonstrations were held in Shikarpur, Sukkur, Qazi Ahmed, Ghotki, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Hyderabad, Shahdadkot, Nagarparkar, Sanghar, Tando Allah Yar, Sakrand, Nawabshah, Moro, Naushahro Feroze, Thatta, and Larkana areas of Sindh.
Protests also took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur, Swat, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Bannu, Peshawar, Kohat, Charsadda, Malakand, Swabi, Buner, Nowshera, Mohmand, Dera Ismail Khan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Takht Bhai, Karak, Hangu, and Lakki Marwat, Dawn reported.
PKRC further mentioned that protests were held in Balochistan’s Quetta, Kalat, Naseerabad, Qila Abdullah, Jhal Magsi, Mastung, Jaffarabad, Usta Muhammad and Sohbatpur. While addressing the protesters in Lahore, PKRC General Secretary Riffat Maqsood said the incumbent government’s two years in power have been harmful for farmers.
Earlier in January, experts in Pakistan slammed the expansion of corporate farming and land acquisition, lamenting that such government schemes are displacing farmers and privatising land and water resources, particularly in Punjab and Sindh.
A report in viacampesina.org detailed the outcome of the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC) meeting in Lahore which had announced protests against corporate farming, land grabbing, and the deepening agrarian crisis.
Around 170 delegates representing 35 farmers’ and rural workers’ organisations from across Pakistan reviewed the country’s political, economic, agrarian, and environmental challenges.
They blamed “IMF-driven neoliberal policies for rising input costs, falling farm incomes, and increased pressure on small farmers and tenants,” said the report.
They also discussed climate-related issues, including floods, water scarcity, and soil degradation, with delegates noting that rural communities are suffering the most.
The meeting had announced nationwide protests against corporate farming, land grabbing, unfair crop prices and lack of a guaranteed minimum support price, among other issues.
–IANS
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