The protest call was given by Kashtkar Coordination Council (KCC) and Kissan Board (KB) and growers from across the district participated in the protest. The growers belong to different regions had poured to the protesting and sin-in venue. A large number of police force was deployed by district police to deal with the farmers if they turn violent or moving to block the motorway.
Tobacco growers have staged a sit-in on Swabi-Jehangira road in front of Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) purchasing centre at Fauijoonabad, Tehsil Chota Lahore against the failure of the companies to buy all products.
They also blocked the road for all kind of traffic while staging sit-in, chanting slogans against the companies, Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) and government for their failure to help them in critical time. The sit-in was peaceful and leaders of the growers and political parties addressed one-by-one.
The protesting growers said that they have two main demands: all the tobacco output should be purchased by multinational and national companies and the tobacco product should not be declared surplus by the companies. They said if the companies declared surplus their crop it would lost value and the buyers would purchase it from them at low price. They said that in such situation it would be great financial loss to them.
During two hours sit-in none of the officials of the companies or the district administration approached them to end the sit-in. After the sit-in the KCC and KB leaders decided to proceed for blocking the motorway at Swabi interchange and keeping it blocks till the meeting of their demands.
As they started the march on foot the district police felt the gravity of the situation and decided to block the protecting growers to block the motorway. They created different obstacles and did not allow the growers but the growers slowly and gradually closed on the motorway. As the protesters reached near the interchange did not be allow to block the motorway.
"Some clashes between the protesting farmers and police had occurred near the interchange," said Khalid Khan, KB district president. It was sudden plunging of the farmer leaders who yelled and appealed to the growers to remain peaceful.
Rizwanullah, KB provincial president said that the growers of the province wanted solid steps and written agreement and only verbal agreement or assurance was not acceptable to them at any cost. Liaqat Yousafzai, general secretary of KCC said that a large quantity of tobacco products has been lying with the growers and they knew that companies had planned to declare the crop surplus. In the tense situation Deputy Commissioner, Mutasimbillah and district police officer Sohaib Ashraf reached there and held talks with leaders of protesting growers near the interchange. The growers were led by Rizwanullah, Liaqat Yousafzai, Muhammad Ali Dagaiwal and Khalid Khan.
They struck a deal and agreed that talks would be held at DC office on Tuesday. The PTB Chairman and officials of the companies and growers leaders would participate in the negotiations but the growers said that nothing short of meeting the two objectives were acceptable to them. After this decision the protesting growers returned homes peacefully.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017