Sucre Ethique - Pakistan : PPP stages barefoot protest for sugarcane growers

Daily Times - mercredi 21 décembre 2011

LAHORE : The parliamentary party of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), adopting a unique tactic to support and highlight the demands of poor sugarcane farmers, launched a barefoot protest against the provincial government outside the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday.

PPP member Hassan Murtaza reached the Punjab Assembly soon after the start of the session, took off his shoes and began protesting alone on the stairs of the entrance gate of the assembly building. Talking to reporters Murtaza said that sugar mills were not paying the pending amounts of farmers, even though the new crushing season had started. He added that the provincial government did not seem interested in resolving the matter. Hassan Murtaza also protested against the killing of a farmer during a clash with the administration of Hunza Sugar Mills on the issue of non-payment a few days ago, and urged the Punjab government to take immediate action against the culprits. Mutraza said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was not serious about raising the issue of sugarcane farmers in the Punjab Assembly, which it had promised the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) to raise on Wednesday. He added that in order to avoid a detailed discussion to ensure a sound policy on the matter, it took up the issue two days earlier, which exposed a lack of seriousness regarding the farmers’ problems. Other PPP members including Pervez Rafiq, Iftikhar Babar Khaitran, Peer Nazim Hussain Shah, Yousuf Raza Ghurki, Faiza Malik and many others joined Murtaza on the steps of the Assembly. PML-Q member Samina Khawar Hayyat also joined the protest and chanted slogans against the provincial government. Meanwhile, opposition leader Raja Riaz reached to the assembly and also took part in the protest before joining the session. Later most of the protesting legislators joined the session but Hassan Murtaza did not leave his position until the three hour long session ended. hussain kashif