VEHARI: Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq has warned that farmers from the four provinces will march on Islamabad if the government fails to solve their problems.

He was speaking at a farmers’ convention in Wijhyan­wala near the Vehari town on Sunday. Growers belonging to Khanewal and Vehari districts attended the convention held under the banner of the Kissan Board Pakistan, the JI’s farmers’ wing.

Mr Haq said the farming community was facing hardship because it was not getting due return for their crops amid rising cost of inputs, high electricity tariff and prolonged loadshedding.

Also read: JI rejects all taxes except zakat, ushr

India paid subsidy on agricultural inputs but the Pakistan government was creating problems for farmers by importing agricultural products from India, he alleged.

The JI chief appealed to all political parties not to fight among themselves. They should instead wage war against poverty, ignorance, price hike, unemployment and outages, he added.

He said that after coming to power, Jamaat-i-Islami would give subsidy to farmers on fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, electricity and diesel.

He said that a majority of police personnel had been deployed as guards for VVIPs and the general public had been left at the mercy of criminals and terrorists.

Pakistan had been established in the name of Islam but rulers had drifted away from the right path and created a class-based society, Mr Haq said.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2015

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