The incumbent government managed to strike a deal with farmers, who had been protesting under the banner of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad on the streets of Islamabad for nearly a week. The farmers were demanding taking back power tariffs for tube wells to their previous levels, slashing the price of urea and other fertilizers, raising the control rates for wheat and sugarcane, withdrawing several new agriculture-related taxes and levies, and clearing of canals and release of water for farms.
Kissan Ittehad Chairman Khalid Butt called off the protest at a press conference where Inteior Minister Rana Sanaullah was also present. Sanaullah said that the government had agreed to the farmers’ demands, which included delay and installments in payments of power bills and cancellation of fuel adjustment charges. On other demands, the interior minister said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a ministerial committee — with Sanaullah on the board — that would hold meetings with farmers’ representatives and negotiate finer terms of the agreement.
Even before an agreement was reached, Sanaullah had made it clear that the government would accept their “legitimate demands”. Considering Sanaullah’s rhetoric, several observers would be dumbfounded by why the government didn’t send out politicians to negotiate on day one when farmers felt the government was dismissing those same “legitimate demands” by sealing off the city and using the police as their negotiators instead of people who actually represent the PM and his cabinet.
At the same time, we should not forget that the farmers actually made their demands at an earlier protest last month, and the government accepted them but failed to act. Despite Sanaullah’s promises, farmers have good reason to be wary.
