Pakistan: Farmers in Lahore protest against hike in prices of fertilizer

Lahore [Pakistan], February 24 : The farmers' wing of Pakistan's Islamist political party Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) held a protest against the Imran Khan government over increasing prices of fertilizers, the country's vernacular media reported.
The fertilizers have become costlier and unavailable and if the situation does not change, there will be a decline in the production of the crops, said Chaudhary Shaukat, regional president of Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP), a body representing smallholder farmers.
Complaining that the selling price of the crops is lower than the expenses, the protesters demanded exemption on general sales tax on seeds and agricultural tools.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has broken all the records of tyranny and injustice, the vernacular media reported JI chief Siraj-ul Haq as saying.
Haq further said that all departments and sectors are crumbling due to the wrong policies of the government that has become a slave of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The protesting farmers and laborers will surround the Punjab assembly if their demands are not fulfilled, he added.
The agitators also demanded immediate release of arrested farmers, Pakistan's vernacular media reported.
Notably, as many as 200 farmers were arrested in Lahore as they staged a sit-in protest against an exorbitant hike in petroleum prices, unavailability of fertilizer, and higher prices of compost and demanded the reversal of the government decisions, Dawn newspaper reported.