Over 1000 small farmers and their children from Southern Punjab took out rally and held a peaceful protest in front of Multan Press Club (MPC) on Saturday demanding immediate rehabilitation of agricultural sector in the flood hit areas.
Later they marched on Abdali road, SP Chowk, and Bahawalpur road. They observed sit in before the prime minister's residence in Multan. They demanded that food must be provided to the poor farming families for at least next six months and the provision of other amenities urgently needed including health and shelter should also be ensured on emergency basis.
They resolved that if their demands were not fulfilled, they would start a nation-wide protest and would observe hunger strikes and sit-ins in front of all the provincial assemblies. The farmers from the flood affected of South Punjab's areas of Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Daira Din Panah, Kotadu, Baseera,Jampur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Mehmoodkot and the representatives of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) and Sustainable Agriculture Action Group (SAAG) criticised the government saying it was failed to provide required rehabilitation services to the poor farmers.
They urged the President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to immediately activate the state machinery to meet the human rights violations, increased poverty and hunger in the flood-affected areas. They underlined that the poor farmers in majority of the flood-hit areas were unable to grow food due to the damaged land and irrigation system, the unavailability of quality seeds and fertilisers and the absence of interest free loans.
They complained that the government provided them with poor quality seeds adding banking tribunals were set up in various areas, which filed cases against the affected farmers for the recovery of previous loans. They expressed dissatisfaction over the agriculture relief package and demanded a long-term agriculture rehabilitation programme that should warrant waiving off of the government agriculture loans for small landholders and the exemption of agricultural sector from the proposed Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST).
They called for immediate steps to free the poor tenants of the landlords' loans and stressed upon the need of launching 'cash for work' and 'kitchen gardening' projects under the rehabilitation programme.
They also demanded the computerisation of land record in the flood-hit areas in order to avoid conflict of interest among the tenants, small contractors and landlords. The latter is getting relief package while the farmers are the real affected ones of the flood, they observed. A representative of the Action Aid said on the occasion that despite several protests, the federal and provincial authorities have not been hearing the voice of the poor farmers.
He said the government should immediately start distributing the available wheat among the poor farming communities. They also expressed their solidarity with the people who lost their lives in suicidal attacks, target killings, torture and missing and demanded for finding the political solution of Balochistan situation and avoiding the use of force in this province.
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