LAHORE: The PPP, one of the major partners in the federal ruling coalition, has criticised the government for the treatment being meted out to the farming community under pressure from increasing power bills and prices of petroleum products.

Farmers have been staging a sit-in for the last couple of days in Islamabad demanding relief in power bills and oil prices as well as subsidies for fertilisers.

PPP MPA Syed Hasan Murtaza said here on Friday that the demands of farmers across Pakistan are 200 percent justified. Presently, farmers are in a bad situation as increasing tariffs on electricity and prices of petroleum products have made them desperate.

He asked why the government that forcibly collect wheat from the houses of farmers doesn’t stop the black marketing of fertilizer. Had the government supported the farmers instead of the capitalists, they would have changed the destiny of the country.

He demanded the government relieve the growers from the clutches of middlemen and commission shop culture. He said the coalition government should ensure the supply of DAP and urea and provide direct relief to the agriculture sector by reducing the prices of fertilizer, seed, and pesticides.

He said despite being an ally of the government, they would never tolerate the oppression of the farmers.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2022