Punjab govt’s farmer package ‘cruel joke, smokescreen’: PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram on Wednesday lambasted the Punjab government’s farmer package as a “cruel joke” and a “smokescreen” to conceal its anti-farmer agenda.

He accused the Punjab government of sabotaging farmers’ interests and pushing the province into an agricultural and economic crisis.

In a strongly-worded statement issued here, Waqas dismissed the ‘Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s provincial government as illegitimate, alleging it was deliberately harming growers.

Waqas slammed the Punjab government for “shamelessly betraying” the farming community by backtracking on its promise of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat at Rs3,900 per 40 kg, leaving them at the mercy of exploitative market rates as low as Rs1,700–2,100 per 40 kg.

He declared that this was not just policy failure but a “deliberate betrayal and economic murder of growers”. Farmers, already crushed by skyrocketing input costs, now face ruin due to the government’s “criminal negligence”, which prioritises “political vendettas” over food security and rural livelihoods, he asserted.

Waqas dismissed the government’s splashing of taxpayers’ money on hollow advertisements and billboards to project a false image of performance as nothing but a “deceitful PR stunt” to mask its anti-agriculture agenda.

He warned that denying farmers fair compensation would not only cripple the rural economy but also pose a serious threat to national food security.

“The consequences of this neglect will be long-term and devastating,” he said, adding that a drop in wheat production could trigger a food crisis, inflate consumer prices, and deepen farmer poverty.

“The PTI will resist every anti-farmer act vociferously and stand shoulder to shoulder with the farming community,” he vowed.

Waqas alleged that both the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) were “family-run corporations, not political entities”, with their only agenda being to fraudulently seize power and plunder public wealth—a fact exposed by their fake outrage over the Sindh canal issue.

He mocked PPP Chairman Bilawal’s sudden aggressive rhetoric, labeling Islamabad’s policymakers as “deaf and dumb”, calling it a “scripted performance” to divert attention from his party’s own crimes. “His father, Asif Zardari, bartered away Sindh’s water rights to secure power,” Waqas charged.

He dared Bilawal to break ties with the federal government and relinquish all constitutional positions if he truly cared for Sindh.

“Now, PPP is shedding crocodile tears over the canal issue only to pressure PMLN for a greater share in funds and power,” he added.

However, Waqas predicted that the PPP and PMLN would soon reach a consensus on the controversial canal project, as neither has the mandate or authority to part ways.

Turning to Balochistan, Waqas accused the PPP-led provincial government of rushing through a controversial mineral act without proper consultation, selling off the province’s mineral wealth to benefit a select few.

“From water to wheat to minerals, the people of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan are being robbed by these two dynastic parties, who treat public assets as bargaining chips,” he said.

“Their alliance is not for democracy—it’s a forced marriage of convenience to loot and plunder.”