22 October 2004	Friday	07 Ramazan 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: The cotton growers in the Saraiki belt of Punjab and rural Sindh are in a state of extreme distress due to government's failure in procuring phutty this year , said PPP Parliamentarians Shah Mehmood Qureshi while speaking at a joint news conference of the combined opposition here on Thursday.

He claimed that the farmers were forced to sell their produce for as low as Rs825 as against the government's support price of Rs925 which was less than the international market price of Rs1025 per 40 kg.

Cotton production is a source of 70 per cent of country's foreign exchange earning and the mainstay of huge textile industry, which was now at the brink of collapse, he told Dawn.

Mr Qureshi said a largely attended meeting of cotton growers had recently expressed their complete lack of government's policy which was resulting in destruction of their produce.

"The entire opposition protests the government's attitude and demands immediate action to save the cotton growers from total destruction," he said.