ISLAMABAD: From Punjab to Sindh, the powerful farm lobby cried out in the National Assembly on Tuesday against what lawmakers from both the government and opposition benches called unbearable falls in the prices of their crops.

The outcry, triggered by a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N accusing unspecified federal ministers of unconcern, forced Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi to refer the issue affecting wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane to the house standing committee on food security for a report within three days, while there was no immediate governmental response to the allegations.

Otherwise, the deputy speaker, who chaired the proceedings of what was a private members’ day, said the matter would be referred to a special committee of the house, as was proposed earlier by PML-N member Raza Hayat Haraj, who set off the uproar by complaining that he was unable to talk to government ministers about what he called the worst year for Pakistani farmers.

He soon found himself joined by landowners from his own party and the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party, as the house seemed putting aside, for the time-being, concerns about the consequences of the likely acceptance of the protest resignations of 30 lawmakers of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf who are due to verify their resignations to the house speaker on Wednesday and new tensions between the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

All these members complained of falling prices of agricultural crops and demanded fixation of higher support prices by the government – urgently in case of wheat before the impending start of sowing.

Mr Haraj asked why authorities had allowed import of cotton from India while Pakistan’s own crop was enough and would meet this year year’s target despite recent floods.

Munawar Ali Talpur of the PPP said growers were practically living hand-to-mouth as, according to him, they could hardly meet production expenses, except for owners of orchards.

PPP’s veteran parliamentarian Yusuf Talpur warned of a ‘storm’ if what he called the silent majority living in rural areas ended their traditional silence, and accused every PML-N government of ‘cutting farmers’ throats’ contrary to his party’s government benefiting them.

Mohammad Moeen Wattoo, a PML-N back-bencher, held ‘negligence of ministries’ responsible for the situation in which, he said, farmers had to sell their rice crop ‘in loss’.

PML-N’s Awais Leghari said the Trading Corporation of Pakistan had not yet moved to buy cotton after the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet had fixed the price of raw cotton at Rs3,000 per 40 kg early this month. He termed the delay detrimental to growers and beneficial to ‘arhti’ middleman and factories.

Tehmina Daultana, a PML-N member belonging to a prominent land-owning family of south Punjab’s cotton-growing Vehari district, quoted people in her constituency often asking ‘what to grow’ and complaining ‘there is no saving’, and said of government ministers that even if they were doing their best to rectify the situation, their ‘best is not good enough’.

But the government was spared some more expected assaults from two independent members from south Punjab – the mercurial Jamshed Ahmad Dasti and the recently elected Malik Amir Dogar – because the deputy speaker did not allow them the floor despite their repeated requests.

PPP ANNOYED OVER BLOCKED BILL: Earlier, the PPP seemed very annoyed as the government opposed the consideration and passage of a private bill, already passed by the Senate, that seeks to bar a civil servant to serve in an international organisation such as a non-governmental organisation, a financial institution or a foreign donor agency except being posted there on behalf of the country.

However, after heated arguments in the presence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, originally authored by PPP Senator Sughra Imam and moved in the lower house by PPP’s Nafeesa Shah, was referred to the standing committee concerned of the house on a government motion.

Opposition leader Khursheed Ahmed Shah reacted angrily over Science and Technology Minister Zahid Hamid’s remarks that Senate too had sent bills to its standing committees after their passage by the National Assembly and wanted the prime minister to take notice of his ministers ‘creating problems’ in legislative work.

But the minister said he was asking for the bill’s reference to the standing committee not as tit-for-tat but owing to government’s reservations.

Before that, the government allowed introduction and reference to a relevant standing committee of a private bill of PML-N member Maiza Hameed, seeking to provide for the prevention of all acts of torture, custodial death and custodial rape by public servants in conformity with the international Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment signed by Pakistan in 2008.

No government minister seemed prepared to respond after former house speaker Fehmida Mirza sought information about preparedness to face potential dangers from the tropical cyclone Nilofar to coastal areas of Sindh and about coordination between the national and provincial disaster management authorities.

But after making some checks, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Riaz Hussain Peerzada told the house that necessary instructions had been sent to the governments of Sindh and Balochistan for precautionary measures such as asking fishing boats that had gone to sea to return and others not to sail until the danger existed.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2014