PESHAWAR, June 26: Farmers on Monday staged a protest demonstration in front of the provincial assembly and demanded of the government to bring the water cess on a par with other provinces besides calling for issuance of licences for opium cultivation.

The demonstration, organised by the Kisan Ittehad Pakistan, was led by its provincial president Jan Nisar Khan.

Protesters, who also staged a sit-in, called upon the government to reduce prices of fertilisers, seeds and pesticides and said that the government should ensure their good quality. They asked the government to pay compensation to Warsak dam affectees and repair irrigation tube-wells.

Farmers, who were holding banners and placards, also urged the government to waive small and soft-term loans and asked it to raise the support prices for sugarcane and sugar-beet. They said they were not getting a fair price for their products.

President Jan Nisar criticised the provincial budget for 2006-07, saying that the government had not announced any relief for farmers. He criticised the MMA government for exploiting the name of religion for seizing power.

Pointing at MPA Maulana Amanat Shah, who had come out to listen to their demands, he said that the government should give representation to farmers in agriculture policy. He said that none of their organisation had been included in the formation of agricultural policy. He said that the provincial government should apologise to the nation for not giving any relief to the farmers.

He said that the water cess should be reduced to Rs50 per acre like other provinces, adding that the matter needed concrete measures, adding that the committee that was formed by the government to review water cess was ineffective.

He criticised the provincial government for taking loans on interest from the federal government and said that a government that claimed to be following Islamic injunctions should not have done so.

Maulana Amanat Shah told the protesting farmers that the MMA government was striving to provide relief to the poor, including farmers. The previous government, he said, had signed an accord that they would increase water cess by 25 per cent, but “we refused to increase the cess as farmers are unable to pay it at new rates.”

He left the protesters without offering any assurances, claiming undue interruptions by farmer leaders during his speech.

Other politicians also assured them about informing the government about their demands. The protesters later dispersed peacefully.