SUKKUR: Sugar cane growers, along with workers and management officers of the Alliance Sugar Mill held a three-hours-long sit-in at the nearby section of the National Highway in Ubauro on Tuesday over “forcible closure” of the mill by police. Civil society activists also joined in the protest.

They alleged that the police acted on behalf of certain influential political figures who were in the process of establishing their own sugar mill in the area.

Sugar cane-laden trucks were seen lined up outside the Alliance Sugar Mill which, according to growers, had offered a higher price of their produce than the officially fixed rate.

Just before the mill management could start sugar cane procurement on Monday, the area police arrived and started turning back the truckers, the protesters said.

This, they said, ultimately led to the closure of the mill and also made the truckers, growers, farmers and mill workers to hold a sit-in at the nearby section of the highway.

During the course of the sit-in, both tracks of the highway remained blocked and all public and private vehicles hitting the section had to stop.

Finally, the Ubauro police, apparently acting upon some instructions from their high-ups, held negotiations with the protesters and assured them that the sugar mill would be allowed to reopen within the next two days.

On this assurance, the protesters ended their sit-in and cleared the highway.

Earlier, some of the protesting growers and truckers including Jam Chhallo Khan Indhar, Jam Nadir, Mohammad Ismail, Abdul Majeed Samejo and Akbar Ali Gumb told local journalists that the police had started “blocking sugar cane supplies to the mill since Monday”. They kept asking the truckers to go away as the mill had been closed, the protesters said.

However, they added, only a few truckers left the area while growers, farmers and mill management remained engaged in heated arguments with the police.

The protesting sugar cane growers claimed that the influential political figures behind this episode belonged to the ruling party of Sindh who were about to put into function their own sugar mill.

They revealed its name as the “Sindhri Sugar Mill”, and said that the action to close down the Alliance Sugar Mill was aimed at facilitating a smooth launch of the new mill and ensuring adequate supply of sugar cane to it.

The abrupt closure of the mill and resultant cancellation of cane procurement shocked the growers, farmers and mill workers alike, they said, arguing that the consignments that already reached the mill were bound to dry up in a matter of hours thus losing its weight and utility.

The affected growers said they had to dispose of the cane crop immediately and return to their lands in order to prepare for the wheat crop next. “A delay of even a few days might leave us in the lurch as we may suffer heavy losses on account of the destruction of our sugar cane stocks and also our failure to sow wheat crop due to time lapse,” they explained.

The management and workers of the closed down sugar mill also lamented the police action and “tactics” to benefit a new mill at the cost of their livelihood.

Over 100 protesters booked

After persuading the protesters to end their sit-in and disperse peacefully, the Ubauro police booked more than 100 protesters for blocking the highway, attacking and damaging vehicles and obstructing police from performing their official duties.

The FIR registered on behalf of the state was lodged by ASI Sikandar Ali Dahar against protesting truckers, growers and farmers, as well as some officers and other employees of the Alliance Sugar Mill.

The FIR carried names of Colonel Mazhar Malhi, Dr Gulzar, Shahid Pervez, Abbas, Moazzam Shah, Ilyas, Ikram Malik, Musa Bhutto, Bilawal, Shah Nawaz Mahar, Chhallo Indhar, Deen Mohammad Mazari, Abdul Qadir Dashti and Khalil Ahmed Rana along with his four sons — Mohammad Khalid, Mohammad Sabir, Mohammad Shafiq and Mohammad Hanif — and 20 others.

The complainant said that 60-70 other protesters could not be identified.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2025