LAHORE, Oct 29: Various Kissan organizations will launch a drive against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime from December this year. Speaking at a news conference in the Kissan Hall here on Friday , representatives of over 10 organizations said the WTO and corporate farming would force farmers to sell their land at cheaper rates who ultimately would have to move to cities to earn their livelihood.

They said they would hold a demonstration against the WTO on Dec 6 in Lahore in which over 10,000 farmers across the country would take part to pressurize the government to safeguard their interest before its implementation.

The organizations, included the Pakistan Labour Party, Anjuman Mazareen Punjab, Ghareeb Kissan Tehrik, People's Rights Movement, Sindh Hari Committee, Progressive Youth Movement, Sindhi Qaumi Tehrik and Progressive Youth Movement.

Mushtaq Goria, Ghulam Qadir, Saleem Raza Sial and Farooq Tariq said that farmers would be the worst affected after the implementation of the WTO. Instead of implementing the WTO regime next year, the government should open trade links with the neighbour countries to give boost to the economy, they demanded.

They urged the government to also stop allocation of land to army men in the Punjab and Balochistan and cancel the already allocated ones. They said an Anti-Privatization Conference and the All Pakistan Kissan Conference would be held in December and Marah in Lahore and Okara, respectively, to raise these issues. A committee, they said, had been constituted to bring all the kissan parties on a platform to struggle for their rights.