LAHORE: Raiwind police took into custody the president of his own faction of the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI), Chaudhry Anwar, from his residence on Monday.

The farmers’ leader had led a protest around three months ago (November 2020) in the provincial capital, demanding Rs2,000 per 40kg wheat support price and Rs300 per kg for sugarcane, besides flat power rate of Rs5 per unit for the farm tubewells.

However, in the ensuing clash with police one of the protesters, Ashfaq Langrial, had died.

Though the PKI gave no official word on the arrest, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz alleges the police action is aimed at forcing Mr Anwar to withdraw the petition he had filed for registration of a murder case against police over the protester’s death.

“The Punjab government had been pressing Chaudhry Anwar to withdraw his application for registration of the murder case. On his persistent refusal, the Raiwind police arrested him from his residence,” Punjab PML-N President Rana Sanaullah Khan said here on Monday.

The ‘puppet government’ which had been claiming to champion the cause of farmers’ rights, is harassing farmers’ leadership through arrests, he said, adding that Modi in India and Imran Khan in Pakistan had become sworn enemies of the farming community.A police source says Chaudhry Anwar was arrested from Multan by the Raiwind police on a complaint of an overseas Pakistani, who alleged he had given Rs32 million in cash besides some machinery for an agriculture project to the farmer leader.

The complainant, whose name was withheld by the police, alleged life threats were hurled at him when he demanded his money back.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2021