LAHORE, April 20: Farmers' bodies on Tuesday condemned imposition of Section 144 in the Punjab to check movement of wheat, terming it "anti-farmers policy" of the government.

They were of the opinion that the government, despite the ban, would not be able to meet wheat procurement targets set for the year but exposed farmers and the private sector to the corruption of food department officials.

"The government never dared ban flour movement when millers were selling wheat at Rs460 per 40 kilograms which they had purchased at Rs300," says Hamid Malhi, executive director of the Farmer Associates of Pakistan. "It was because the chief minister himself was a miller and knew his business. The millers were allowed to make fortune at the cost of urban population."

Now, he said, when the farmers had started getting some benefit, a ban had been clamped in the name of saving urban population from higher prices and ensuring food security. "The government has taken this liberty as farmers are the most-neglected lot."

Mr Malhi predicted that it would cost the government dearly politically. He claimed that any elected representative backing the ban would do it at the risk of his political career.

"Banning wheat movement tantamount to playing with economic life of farmers," says an official of Agriculture Chamber. "The government has increased price by Rs7 per 40 kgs, which is peanuts as far as farmers are concerned. The government has to import wheat at a price of Rs550.

Why should farmers pay the price of government import bill? Growe-rs are now getting a price of Rs380 per 40 kg, why should they suffer a loss of Rs20 per 40 kgs. The government is politically so weak that it could not resist international financial institutions against the general sales tax on agriculture inputs.

The ban goes against the spirit of free market economy which the government has so enthusiastically been defending and projecting," he said. The Kissan Board Pakistan, while condemning the ban in the "strongest possible" word, maintained that bureaucracy had misled the chief minister.

KBP general secretary Ibrahim Mughal was of the opinion that hollow political claims of pro-farmer government stood exposed. "The government which draws its political support from rural areas has chosen to stab the same rural population by banning the wheat movement.