LAHORE: Endorsing Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman’s call for protests, the Kissan Board Pakistan has announced blocking roads across the country on Aug 7 against the soaring prices of petrol and diesel and the imposition of petroleum levy.

Addressing a press conference, Kissan Board President Sardar Zafar Hussain invited all farmers’ bodies to participate in the upcoming agitation. Board Vice President Chaudhry Ijaz Advocate, Central Punjab President Mian Rasheed Minhala, and Chief Organizer Chaudhry Akhtar Farooq Mayo were also present.

Hussain expressed deep concern over the mounting unrest among farmers across the country, attributing it to the exorbitant increase in fuel prices which, he said, has multiplied operational costs of agricultural machinery.

Holding Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz responsible for the ongoing wheat crisis, the Kissan Board president stated that importing wheat was a matter of shame for an agricultural country like Pakistan, squarely blaming the incumbent rulers for the debacle.

Drawing a parallel with neighbouring India, he lamented that while farmers in Indian Punjab were prospering, growers in Pakistani Punjab and other provinces were facing severe financial hardship.

“The chief minister of Indian Punjab facilitated growers by purchasing a power plant to provide 600 free electricity units per farmer. Conversely, our Punjab chief minister has rubbed salt into the wounds of the masses by purchasing an Rs11 billion aircraft,” he alleged.

He recalled that the board had repeatedly urged the government to announce a support price for wheat. He criticized the government for initially setting the price at Rs3,900 per maund and subsequently withdrawing the decision. This anti-farmer policy, he claimed, caused a damage.

Hussain urged the government to fix the support price for every crop prior to the sowing season.

He claimed that the “wheat mafia” was purchasing wheat from growers at a meager Rs3,500 per maund and selling it at Rs5,000, while the “flour mafia” was selling flour at Rs6,000 per maund, allegedly with the tacit backing of the government and relevant institutions.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2026