Pakistan: JI leader calls for protest rally in Lahore to express solidarity with farmers

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 13 : Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Sunday called for a protest rally in Lahore on May 16 to express solidarity with farmers who are already holding protests against the government for not procuring a fresh crop of wheat in Pakistan, Dawn reported.

While addressing a press conference, the JI chief warned the Punjab's provincial government to refrain from blocking the route of the Jamaat rally and asserted that otherwise the government would be responsible for any untoward incident at Mall Road in Lahore, according to Dawn report.

He said, "We are going to hold a peaceful rally in Lahore on May 16 along with farmers and if the government tries to block our way, the responsibility for any untoward situation will lie with the provincial government," adding that if the federal government was serious about addressing the problem of farmers it should do it at once so that no more protests are held on the issue.

Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that at first, the government had promised the growers that their crop will be procured. However, the government later did not fulfil its promise. He also condemned the Pakistani caretaker government's decision to import wheat despite expectations of a bumper crop in Pakistan.

Asked about Pakistan's former caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar regarding the unveiling of facts about Form 47, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that Kakar must be taken into protective custody and he must be questioned about his statement, Dawn reported.

Rehman further said, "The life of caretaker prime minister must be in danger after he passed these remarks while replying to a PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi, because the entire government of PML-N is standing on the basis of alteration in the Form 47."

On April 29, a heavy contingent of Punjab Police in anti-riot gear rounded up scores of farmers as they reached The Mall in Pakistan's Punjab to hold a protest against what they termed to be an unfair wheat procurement policy, Dawn reported.

The protesters, led by Kissan Ittehad Pakistan, gathered at the GPO Chowk on The Mall and tried to march towards the Punjab Assembly, where a heavy contingent of police intercepted them.

Police blocked the road by placing containers and arrested several protesters. The farmers had taken to the streets against the delay in the purchase of grain and the decision to reduce the provincial procurement quota from over 4 million tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes.

Speaking to Dawn, Kissan Ittehad Pakistan General Secretary Mian Umair Masood, who led the protest, said that over 250 farmers were arrested by police in Lahore. He, however, managed to evade arrest himself. Reports have claimed that arrests were also made in Khanewal, Vehari, Kasur, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Sadiqabad, Pakpattan, Muzaffargarh, and Sahiwal districts.

The opposition, particularly the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Jammat-i-Islami, as well as lawmakers from the treasury benches, have offered support to the protesting farmers.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz's (PML-N) Members of the Provincial Assembly belonging to the countryside have voiced concerns regarding the present procurement policy. However, the government has played down the issue with its spokesperson Azma Bukhari saying that the police had not taken any protest leader into custody from anywhere.

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