SAHIWAL: The Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) and Kisan Board – farmers’ wing of Jamaat-i-Islamai (JI) – on Wednesday separately condemned the arrest of farmers in different districts of Punjab and demanded their immediate release.

Both organisations, at separate press conferences held at Sahiwal and Chichawatni, threatened to give calls for sit-ins in all districts, if the arrested farmers were not freed.

PKI district president Muhammad Hussain, told Dawn that around 70-80 farmers and activists had been arrested in various districts.

He said the PKI had been demanding 30-40 per cent increase in wheat support price, cut in farm in-puts prices, specially of the fertilisers and pesticides, besides decreased in per unit electricity charges for agriculture tubewells.

He demanded the farmers’ bodies must also be involved in determining the prices of agricultural commodities at the district level.

Provincial president Chaudhry Rizwan said on phone that government’s failure to increase wheat support price could cause crop shortage in the coming years as farmers would shift to more profitable crops. He demanded farmers must be given direct subsidy on fertilisers.

He deplored the arrest of “peaceful” farmers in the districts, including Lahore, Toba Tek Singh, Sheikhupura, Chiniot, Kasur, Pakpattan, Bahawalpur, Bahwal Nager, Vehari, Fasilabad and Sragodha.

Kisan Board media adviser Dr Tahir Siraj demanded withdrawal of the cases registered against farmers for burning crop residues.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2020