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| April 16, 2007 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1428 |
Peasants’ group formed to hold protest
LAHORE, April 15: A number of civil society organisations across the country have joined hands to bring about a Peasants Resistance Group which has decided to hold protest demonstrations in opposing a three-day agricultural deliberations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by a ministerial meeting of the 19-state Cairns Group beginning in the city on Monday.
The formation of the group is similar to the World Social Forum and it plans to hold a farmers convention, organise a rally and mobilise the opinion of the farming community and other under-privileged sections of society as an activity parallel to the meeting of the Cairns Group, comprising agriculturally developed countries, which are primarily interested in exporting their agricultural produce and agro-based industrial products.
“The civil society rejects Pakistan taking a U-turn by quitting the Group-33 and Group-20 and joining the Cairns Group. The two groups had been advocating subsidies and other benefits for the protection of their farmers and agriculture.
On the other hand, the Cairns Group is only seeking to promote a tariff-free market to export agriculture products. Such a change in policy is bound to adversely hit Pakistan’s agriculture and make the farming community suffer,” Mr Tahir Hasnain of the Economic Justice and Development Organisation said while speaking at a news conference here on Sunday.
Flanked by Labour Party Pakistan secretary-general Farooq Tariq and Irfan Mufti of the South Asia Partnership, Mr Hasnain said the Doha ministerial summit presented in 2001 a `development box’ for seeking high protection to agricultural economy in developing countries with the idea of safeguarding food scarcity, livelihood and rural development. Taking the same agenda forward, Pakistan became an active member of Group-33 and Group-20 and vociferously advocated the initiative of protection to agriculture and the farming community and also supported the proposal of allowing subsidies in the farming sector.
But, he said, later Islamabad surprisingly joined the Cairns Group which comprised agriculturally advanced countries and whose farmers had no problems to demand subsidies. These countries, which include China, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Argentine, South Africa, Canada, Malaysia and Bolivia, were interested only in a free market for their agricultural products. He said Pakistan had no potential and resources to join the new club and the decision seemed to have been taken under certain influence both from within the country and without.
According to him, the enhanced friendship of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank with the United States might have played a role in Islamabad changing its position and joining the Cairns Club by completely ignoring ground realities. As for the internal factor behind the change in the policy, he said it seemed to be the pressure of big landlords who wanted unchecked export of fruit in particular. Its recent example, he said, was the export of citrus fruit which caused unprecedented rise in oranges process within the country. He said any export which ignored the interest of the farming community and the people at large was an unwanted trade. — Correspondent
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