PTI senator threatens protest with farmers

MULTAN:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders have pressed the government to purchase six million tonnes of wheat from South Punjab at the rate of Rs3,900 per maund.

“If wheat is not bought from the farmers at official rates, they will march with tractor trolleys loaded with wheat from Multan to Lahore from April 28 and will shut the entire Lahore,” warned South Punjab PTI President Senator Aon Abbas Buppi at a news conference at Multan Press Club.

The senator said that wheat had been ordered from Ukraine during the last seven months. However, 400,000 tonnes of wheat was in the warehouses of Punjab during the previous PDM government and is still there today, he added. “If this wheat had been used, today the farmers would not have faced problems.”

He said that a profit of Rs1 billion had been made by ordering wheat from Ukraine, which should be fully investigated. He maintained that the government is not ready to buy even two million tonnes of wheat, stating, “The wheat is currently on the roads.”

He said the government did not realize that if the farmers did not get the right price, they would not grow wheat next year, which could create a severe crisis in the country.

“If the official price of wheat in Punjab is not fixed at Rs.3900 per maund by April 28, then the farmers' movement will be unstoppable, shutting down all of Lahore.” He threatened that the PTI would launch a movement with farmers if the decision regarding the wheat was not made timely.

“At present, farmers in Bahawalpur region are getting Rs2,700 per maund and are facing severe difficulties due to the lack of adequate rates,” he said.

On the issue of the government imposing Section 144 during the by-elections in Rahim Yar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan, Buppi said that his party will stage a sit-in at the ROs’ office till receiving Form 45.

MPA Moin Riaz Qureshi, Barrister Waseem Baduzai, Malik Adnan Dogar, Nawab Radiullah Khan, Malik Zahoor Bhutta Malik Amir Awan, Shehbaz Qureshi, and Ejaz Hussain Janjua were also present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2024.