Farmers, govt continue to lock horns

Growers lay siege to main road leading to red zone for sixth consecutive day

ISLAMABAD:

Scores of farmers from across the country continue to lay siege to the main road in Islamabad’s financial hub, Blue Area, for the sixth consecutive day as several rounds of negotiations between the growers and the government have failed to yield results.

The farmers, who have gathered to protest against what they said were unfulfilled promises by the government, have blocked all entry and exit points at the Blue Area underpass by parking large and minibuses and tankers.

On the other hand, police and the local administration have also placed barricades and containers around the protest venue, forcing motorists and commuters to use alternate routes to reach their destinations.

The Islamabad Expressway and the main Blue Area Road towards D-Chok and Faisal Mosque have been blocked by protesters while traffic has been diverted towards alternate roads, forcing motorists and commuters to meander through narrow and choked streets and alleys where unending snarl-ups have become commonplace.

The farmers, under the banner of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad, were demanding that the government guarantee a minimum support price for all produce and clear all farmer debts, among other things, besides taking back inflated electricity bills containing various and heavy taxes.

Security around the protest area has also been tightened by deploying police personnel in riot gear as farmers laid siege to several roads including a portion of the Islamabad Expressway.

The farmers, who have been protesting against the high cost of electricity and fertilisers, reached the federal capital after crossing multiple barriers and obstacles that were placed to stop them from marching on the red zone and the Parliament House.

The farmers, who spoke to The Express Tribune, threatened to march on the D-Chowk and Parliament House in the next 36 hours if their genuine demands were not met.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Pakistan Kissan Ittehad Senior Vice-President Chaudhry Khalid Hussain Batth said that floods have already wreaked havoc on farmers and in such a situation, they could not pay the exorbitant and inflated electricity bills.

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He said that farmers have received electricity bills costing hundreds of thousands of rupees despite the fact that WAPDA and power distribution companies resort to hours-long load-shedding and power cuts, leaving farmers in the lurch for almost 12 hours in the whole day as they could not irrigate their fields, half of them have been inundated by recent floods.

The farmers’ leader said that contrary to India, where growers and producers were facilitated by the government through the provision of subsidised seeds, pesticides and fertilisers, in Pakistan the government was bent on exploiting the farmers instead of facilitating them to stand up on their feet again after cataclysmic floods caused unprecedented damage to their crop.

Chaudhry Hussain Batth said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who himself being an industrialist, could not understand the suffering of the farmers, who are charged Rs50 per unit for running tube wells, despite the fact that agriculture was the mainstay and backbone of Pakistan.

He said that farmers have to face exploitation at the hands of WAPDA, the agriculture department and different government agencies and small farmers were dying of financial suffering and low profit and proceeds against what they produce.

Batth said that the construction of the Kala Bagh Dam has become all the more necessary to store rainwater and savelow-lying areas in Punjab and Sindh from flooding in the future.

He said that “a fixed and low electricity regime” should be introduced for farmers and all unnecessary taxes, which run into thousands of rupees against each bill, should be done away with.

He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has talked to Kissan Ittehad Chairman Mian Ghulam Mustafa and assured him of resolving their issues by Monday or Tuesday. He said that if the government failed to fulfil their demands, they will be left with no option but to march on the Parliament House by removing barricades and containers even if the police baton-charge and arrest them.

Several farmers, who spoke to The Express Tribune, said that they have been facing immense problems at the protest camp as there were no washrooms and toilets and they were forced to defecate in the open or in bushes.

A water tanker had also been brought to the protest venue, where several farmers washed their heads and bodies, while jeering and shouting of farmers could be heard nearby where they were dancing to the tunes and thuds of drums.

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A senior Islamabad police officer, who was the security in charge of the protest venue, told The Express Tribune requesting not to be named that the police personnel have also been exhausted by performing 24-hour duty around the protest venue.

He said that the protest was also taking a heavy financial toll on the exchequer as heavy machinery along with security personnel had been mobilized and engaged to stop the farmers from marching on the red zone. He said that the government should accept the genuine demands of the protesters so that they ended their protest and barricades were removed and traffic was restored.

He said that the divergent traffic was causing perpetual snarl-ups on several roads in the capital during peak hours, causing inconvenience to patients, students and office-goers.