LAHORE: The PTI’s five senior jailed leaders say confiscation of wheat by force through the district administration to meet the three million procurement target fixed by the Punjab government is not just exploitative of the farmers, it is daylight robbery.

Incarcerated PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omar Sarfraz Cheema say restrictions on inter-provincial movement of wheat is not only against the principles of free markets, it is a violation of Article 151 of the Constitution.

In a letter shared by their counsel Rana Mudassar Umer on Monday, the PTI leaders said Punjab was receiving uninterrupted supply of electricity from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and gas from Balochistan, what justification it had to disrupt movement of wheat to the federation’s deficit regions that depend on Punjab.

In the letter titled, “Punjab Farmers: Abandoned”, the PTI leaders stated that the farmers of Punjab had been abandoned by the Punjab government at a time when inflation was on the surge once again, price of diesel raised to Rs 414.78 per litre, uncertainty about fertiliser availability due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

They stated that wheat procurement through its eleven private companies, launched by the government, had failed miserably. They stated pricing disputes, financing issues with the banks and farmers resistance were impediments in its procurement strategy, which the government had failed to resolve.

“Nine out of the eleven companies launched by the Punjab government have not procured any wheat so far,” they claimed, adding that the Punjab government was not even providing farmers promised minimum support price of Rs3,500 per 40kg to the farmers. They said the wheat farmers, particularly in South Punjab, were compelled to sell their wheat between Rs2,800 to Rs3,100 to pay their loans and buy inputs for the Kharif season. With the closure of the food department, under IMF instructions and the failure of private companies to step in as an alternative procurement mechanism, they stated the Punjab farmers had been put at the mercy of the middlemen (Aarthi).

The jailed leaders stated the farmers’ harvesting cost had gone up due to a steep rise in the price of diesel, while their yield per acre went down due to untimely rain and hailstorm.

“Many may not even recover their cost of production. Deduction of 15kg on every 100kg of wheat procured on account of impurities and sand, is like adding salt to injury.”

The PTI leaders asked why political parties like the PML-N and PPP, who claim to have a federal outlook, were quiet over this high handedness of the Punjab government.

They urged the farmer organisations like Pakistan Kissan Ittehad, Farmers Association Pakistan, Kissan Board Pakistan and Anjuman Kashkaran Punjab, to raise their voice against this exploitation.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2026