Jamaat-e-Islami has rejected the Punjab government’s decision to fix the price of wheat at Rs 3,500 per maund and involve private companies in wheat procurement.
Addressing a press conference along with farmer leaders in Mansoura, Lahore, Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman said that farmers have reached the brink of disaster due to the poor agricultural policies of the Punjab government. Last year, the government announced to purchase wheat at Rs 3,900 per maund but backed down from the purchase, causing severe financial losses to farmers while middlemen and mafias benefited from the crisis.
Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman said that 60 percent of Pakistan’s population lives in villages and agriculture is the backbone of the country’s economy, but the government’s policies have reduced the agricultural growth rate from 6.5 percent to 5 percent.
He warned that if this trend continues, the country will face a food crisis in wheat, rice and maize and other crops in 2026.
The Jamaat-e-Islami chief said, “Both farmers and the public need subsidies because this issue is linked to national food security.”
According to him, the government is collecting illegal taxes on gas, electricity and petrol from farmers, while the prices of fertilizers, seeds and agricultural chemicals are continuously increasing. He demanded that the prices of fertilizers and chemicals be reduced by fifty percent and that flood-affected farmers be given at least forty thousand rupees per acre as compensation.
Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman severely criticized the PPP and the PML-N, saying that both parties are products of Form 47, and they are waging war for power and imposing themselves on the people in turn.
He said that the governments of Sindh and Punjab are not separate but are a continuation of the same system, and farmers are being fooled.
Farmer leader Mahmud-ul-Haq Bukhari said that farmers are the backbone of Punjab, but the government’s policies are proving to be anti-farmer.
He warned that if the government does not fulfill its promises, farmers will not cultivate wheat.
Central President Kisan Ittehad Sardar Zafar and General Secretary Mian Umair Masood said that if the government does not fix the wheat rate at Rs 4500 per maund, we will protest on a large scale. According to them, all farmers are united this time and if the government does not take serious steps, there will be a lot of noise across Punjab.
Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman said that sugar mills in Pakistan are outside the tax net, mafias are taking advantage and small farmers are left behind.
He said that the Chief Minister of Punjab should not make policies through advertisements but solve the real problems of farmers. Jamaat-e-Islami will enter the fray as the voice of both farmers and the people.