Summary The protesting body has cited denial of a package promised to them
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan People’s Party on Wednesday have taken ‘notice’ of the protest staged by farmers, gathered from across Punjab province, outside Punjab Assembly on Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam that still is in place.
Disturbed traffic flow owing to the protest resulted in long queues of vehicles, congesting the Mall Road in the evening. The protesting body cited denial of a package promised to them under agriculture policy for the demonstration.
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A commuter brawls with protester over blockades
Hundreds of farmers who converged in Lahore warned of taking the protest to the federal capital on September 29 if Punjab government denied them their alleged rightful package.
Several adjoining roads catered to the rush as traffic police directed commuters away from Mall Road, a section of which is sealed using more than five containers.
The claimants of the agriculture package were to stage protest today according to the schedule decided by their body concerned but the demonstration was initiated a day earlier owing to arrests of several farmers, as claimed by the dissidents.
Political invitation
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman, Imran Khan has invited the protesters to join him in his “struggle” against alleged corrupt government on September 30 in Raiwind of Lahore.
PTI is to take to streets on Friday in a town, called Jati Umra that is known as ‘home’ to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
There has been no formal reply by the body of farmers to Imran Khan’s invitation.
PPP hand
Qamar Zaman Kaira, Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly, Khurshid Shah among others sided with the protesters when they addressed the gathering in the evening today.
Former information minister, Kaira addresses protesters at Charing Cross
Click to read Bilawal’s statement over protest of the farmers
Pakistan People’s Party has warned the government of staging a protest in Islamabad if issue of the farmers is not resolved.
Not the first
Farmers affiliated with Kissan Ittehad earlier had staged a protest outside the assembly on August 20 in which the union demanded to boycott agricultural trade with India.
The group had also demanded off the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif to give immunity to farmers regarding General Sales Tax.
Before that, the union had protested at Charing Cross demanding the provincial government to reduce power tariff for feeders supplying electricity to water pumps. They had also demanded the government to give proprietary rights to the farmers who had fertilized arid pieces of land.
