Bilawal launches Rs56bn farmer support

PPP chief pledges equal provincial representation in judiciary

HYDERABAD:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the upcoming 27th Constitutional Amendment will eliminate a long-standing weakness in the country's Constitution - one that persisted even after the landmark 18th Amendment and subsequent legislation.

"There was a weakness in our Constitution, and thank God, the PPP is going to remove that weakness," Bilawal declared in Larkana on Monday, while inaugurating a programme for direct cash support to farmers for the purchase of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea fertilisers.

Bilawal said the amendment would fulfill the PPP's long-standing demand to establish constitutional courts with equal representation of all provinces. "The people of Larkana know well why it is necessary that equal representation should be given to all provinces [in the superior judiciary]," he remarked, recalling the 1979 judicial decision that sentenced his grandfather, former Prime Minister and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to death.

He contended that not only was the verdict unjust, but it also created "a dangerous impression" because the majority of judges in that case belonged to a single province.

Agricultural reforms and farmer support

Bilawal also addressed the country's agricultural challenges, saying that Pakistan's agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had restricted provincial governments from buying wheat or fixing support prices.

He lamented that farmers were being "left at the mercy of the open market," as input costs, taxes, and electricity bills continued to rise while wheat prices declined. "I once asked the Sindh chief minister to buy wheat from our farmers and send it to the people of Gaza," Bilawal said, "but he replied that the govt's hands were tied due to foreign agreements."

He, however, thanked Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif for taking up the issue with the IMF and securing its consent for price fixation and procurement.

Bilawal told farmers that while the government would buy wheat at Rs3,500 per 40kg - short of their Rs4,000 demand - official procurement would still offer better prospects.

Speaking about the Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) project, he said the govt had allocated Rs56 billion, offering financial assistance to farmers owning between one and 25 acres of land. "We want complete transparency so that no allegations can be raised," he added, noting that the programme is being implemented through the Benazir Hari Card and that no fertiliser procurement is being done by the government.

CM Murad Ali Shah said that payments have already begun through Sindh Bank, and the initiative aims to raise average wheat yield to 35 maunds per acre, improving farmers' incomes.

Provincial Agriculture Minister Sardar Muhammad Bux Mahar said that out of a target of 411,000 beneficiary farmers, around 360,000 have already been registered under the programme.