Remedy for Farmers’ Sufferings

The cries of the farmers of Punjab finally affected the federal government. Mian Shehbaz Sharif removed the Secretary of Ministry of Food Security and now ordered a full investigation into the wheat scandal. The news is that the caretaker government’s finance minister and other relevant officers have to appear before the inquiry committee.

The government of Punjab had locked many farmers in the police station so that the leaders of the farmers would be helpless, but Mian Nawaz Sharif also felt the anxiety created among the farmers. So now the federal government and the Punjab government have to do something about this matter, but then the question is, will the people involved in the wheat import scandal really be held accountable? Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Aun Abbas claims that a single person earned several billion rupees by importing wheat during the caretaker period.

According to a report, wheat was imported even during the current government, but the concerned secretary kept the Prime Minister unaware of this. According to the official data, a total of 34 lakh 49 thousand 436 metric tons of wheat was imported from Ukraine with a total value of 282 billion 97 crore 50 lakh rupees. The summary of wheat import was prepared by the Ministry of Food Security and approved by the then Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar. Another report states that not only caretaker government officials are involved in this scam, but wheat importers from the private sector are also involved.

The analysis of the reports aired on various TV channels shows that the Punjab government had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs. Not released. From the last week of April, there were rains in various parts of Punjab which continued till the month of May. These rains have broken the back of the farmers whose wheat was ripe on the ground.

The wheat procurement target has been reduced from Rs 4 million to Rs 2 million. On the other hand, Punjab has produced more wheat than the target this time. According to the farmers, the farmers are forced to sell their crops at very low prices, despite spending double the price of fertilizer, electricity, diesel and other agricultural expenses for the cultivation of wheat. Experts have a clear stand that the main reason for this crisis in Punjab is the wheat imported from foreign countries, due to which the present government of Punjab is not able to show seriousness before starting the purchase of wheat this year.

It has also been reported that there were 4 million stocks of wheat before the wheat harvest this year and the same amount of wheat was available during the caretaker government. The government had sent 34 million tons of wheat abroad this year. Then, during the caretaker government, the private sector got an opportunity to benefit from the import of wheat. It is said that despite the record production, the target of purchasing more than 30 lakh tons of wheat could not be met. Karachi port has deposits on which the Punjab government has to pay extra surcharge on a daily basis.

Labor leader Iqbal Malik is an active member of human rights organization HRCP in Multan. Iqbal Malik says that the wheat crisis has arisen due to the unwise policy of the caretaker government, but the attitude of the Punjab government is disappointing. The staff of Pasco, a federal government agency, is buying wheat from middlemen instead of buying wheat directly from farmers. Iqbal Malik mentioned the plight of the farmers of Punjab and said that till now the government of Punjab has not started direct purchase by Pasco, so the farmer is forced to sell wheat to middlemen and flour mill owners at a low price. The middleman is buying wheat at a very low price. Farmers are forced to sell wheat at low prices.

They say that if the government does not buy wheat from the farmers at reasonable rates, neither the farmer will be able to pay the electricity bill nor the fertilizer and pesticides. (The farmer takes all these items on loan.) If this situation remains, no one will give the farmer a loan next year. His tubewell connection will be cut, he will have money to buy no fertilizers and no pesticides, thus the agriculture sector will face a terrible crisis.

The Punjab government did not take a correct decision after understanding the facts. When the officials of the food department did not start the purchase of wheat in the whole month of April, farmers’ troubles started and the news of the farmers’ trouble was published in a few newspapers and TV channels, then the Punjab government took notice of it, but no one did anything. There was no practical action and then when the farmers were completely disappointed and on the other hand the rains wreaked havoc, then the farmers started rioting. In principle, being a public figure, Maryam Nawaz should have negotiated with the farmers’ leaders and given clear assurances to the farmers, but this did not happen. When peasant leaders announced a protest in Lahore, the police were mobilized.

The police officials arrested the farmers and locked them up in the police stations and brutally used force on the farmers’ processions. Human rights violations echoed from national media to international media and reports were published in international newspapers and many channels made the video viral. When political parties and human rights organizations, apart from the opposition, protested, innocent farmers were released from police stations in Lahore and other cities.

A journalist while describing the constraints of the Punjab government said that the government has neither money nor space in the godowns, but the situation cannot be normalized by simply ignoring the farmers’ dispute. Uzmi Bukhari, the spokesperson of the Punjab government, says that the government is not buying due to moisture in the wheat. Farmers reject this justification. But former Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar says that the issue of importing wheat has nothing to do with him, but the private sector imported wheat. The summary of wheat purchase came in the cabinet. They also say that wheat was cheap at that time in the international market so wheat was imported and this whole crisis is actually created by the bardana mafia, fertilizer mafia and other groups. The import of any commodity cannot be restricted on the basis of free trade.

Anwarul Haq Kakar says that the demand for import of wheat was made by the bureaucrats of the provincial governments who are still sitting in their positions. Some journalists who monitor international trade have this narrative that the caretaker government allowed the purchase of wheat from Ukraine under the pressure of the United States. The Prime Minister has ordered an investigation into this whole matter and surely many facts will come out from this investigation. Despite all these facts, the sufferings of the farmers of Punjab must be addressed.