A large number of farmers gathered outside the Punjab Assembly for the second consecutive day on Thursday to protest against the government. They camped overnight and continued to protest under the blazing sun, while a 70-year-old farmer from Khanewal, Samiullah, also died of a cardiac attack.
However, no government functionary was there to listen to their woes despite having protested for several hours under the blazing sun. They also set a huge heap of potatoes ablaze to mark their protest.
The farmers lamented that the cost of cultivation is much higher, while the brokers get away with all the profits. Demanding reduction in power tariff of tube wells, they termed it an ‘economic murder’ of peasants.
Protesting farmers attack news men
Scorching weather caused protesting peasants to lose their cool, who in return vent their anger on journalists busy with the coverage of the protest.
They attacked the news men with batons injuring a number of them including ARY News correspondent Almas Khan.
Bilawal extends support to farmers
Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari issued an statement expressing his support for the ongoing farmers protest and for the employees of Punjab Rural Support Programme for non-payment of their salaries.
Expressing solidarity with them, he stated that it was unfortunate that more than six thousand people were being deprived of their source of income due to the inefficiency of the provincial government.
He urged the Punjab government to not deprive poor farmers, who serve as the backbone of the economy, of their rights. The PPP chairman vowed that his party will struggle to make sure that the demands of the farmers are met and they are given their due rights.
