LAHORE:Pakistan Peoples Party on Monday announced to start Kissan March against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government on January 21.
The announcement was made by PPP Central Punjab General Secretary Syed Hassan Murtaza along with Central Punjab Kissan Wing President Inayat Ali Shah and party leaders including Neelum Jabbar Chaudhry, Tanveer Mohal, and Ahsan Rizvi in a press conference. Murtaza said that as a first step towards launching a countrywide Kissan movement, PPP will hold a tractor-trolley march on January 21.
He urged all the opposition political parties including the Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz (PML-N) to join it. Murtaza expressed hope that the Kissan March would be a historic success despite the challenges of chilly weather and differences between opposition parties.
He vowed that PPP would not leave the farmers of the country alone and said, “Whenever farmers come on the roads it is difficult for any government to survive.” The PPP official said they are starting the march to pressurize the government to understand the issues and problems faced by peasants. “Every country supports farmers because agriculture is the backbone of the economy of any country but it is very unfortunate that the PTI government is not serious in solving their issues,” he remarked.
Murtaza said that the government initially allowed wheat export citing adequate reserves but later had to import four million tonnes of the commodity. PPP official said that the country can agriculturally become self-sufficient through subsidies on wheat and other crops. He claimed that past governments of PPP increased the support price of crops while the cost of production remained stagnant. “We gave benefit to the growers as well as consumers,” he asserted.