Bilawal Bhutto slams govt for neglecting agri sector
Islamabad: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Friday slammed the government over the alleged devastation of the agriculture sector.
In a statement, the PPP Chairman said that the simultaneous import of wheat, sugar and cotton was a testament to the ineptitude of the federal government and marked a dark day in the history of Pakistan. “Imran Khan has brought us to the verge of collapse. If Imran Khan does not change his anti-agriculture policies then farmers would be the frontline in our protest against the government,” he warned.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari pointed out that cotton production in Pakistan has fallen by 34%, to its lowest level in 30 years. Pakistan’s famed textile industry too was on the verge of collapse because of the cotton crisis.
PPP Chairman said that selected Prime Minister Imran Khan had imposed an agricultural emergency with a budget of Rs 65 billion which was not implemented anywhere. Cotton, chili, tomato, onion, rice, sugarcane and other crops were affected during the last rains but the government did not offer any incentive or compensation to the farmers, he stated.
He further said that while farmers are struggling to repay their agricultural loans, and as fertilizer prices were skyrocketing, Imran Khan mocks them by claiming that everything is fine. The inept agricultural policies of the PTI government led to tomato farmers dumping their crop for nothing and yet the Prime Minister remained unconcerned.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that when PPP took over the federal government, wheat was being procured from abroad but within a year Pakistan became a wheat exporting country. However, the PTI regime, instead of compensating our farmers at Rs 2,000 per 40 kilograms of wheat, decided to import substandard wheat at Rs 2,750 per 40 kg.
He added that history would not be kind to the Prime Minister, and that it would be written that as farmers were protesting against Modi in Delhi, farmers in Lahore were protesting against Pakistan’s Modi, Imran. He added that Imran Khans politicized police in Lahore martyred a farmer during their violent and highhanded handling of the peaceful and constitutional farmers movement.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari asked that if electricity could be subsidised for industries then why not for the agriculture sector? He demanded that urgent steps be taken to provide relief to the agriculture sector or else a new crisis would soon plague the country.
