HYDERABAD, Dec 16: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has expressed grave concern over the refusal of the sugar mills to pay government fixed price of Rs67 per 40kg to the cane growers and urged the government to intervene in the matter without delay.

A meeting of the chamber was held here on Sunday under the chairmanship of its senior vice-president Mir Murad Ali Talpur which discussed the situation arising after the mills refused to pay the government fixed price.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Talpur said that the mills were flouting the orders of the government and paying less to the growers.

He said this was a clear exploitation and urged the government to intervene in the matter without further delay to enforce its writ.

He demanded that the payment to the growers for their crop should also be made immediately.

The meeting demanded that the minimum purchase price of wheat should also be fixed at Rs600 per maund to end unrest among the growers.

It reminded that the government was importing wheat at the rate of Rs1,200 per maund and therefore the growers were quite justified in demanding Rs600 per maund.

It called upon the government to stop the auction of the growers’ lands and provide them a breathing space so that they could pay back their agricultural loans.

Those who attended the meeting included Akhund Ghulam Mohammad Siddiqui, Agha Nasrullah, Anwar Bachani, Nawab Ghulam Qadir Laghari, Misri Khan Mallah, Mohammad Khan Sarejo and others.

ELECTION BOYCOTT: Jamaat-i-Islami secretary-general Syed Munawar Hassan has said that their and other parties of the opposition would not take part in the general elections to level ground for the 18th constitutional amendment to provide legitimacy to President Pervez Musharraf’s rule as they have already been deceived in past.

He was speaking to party workers at Tabligh-i-Islam here on Saturday night.

He paid tribute to the party leaders who had withdrawn their nomination papers and added that obedience and discipline was the hallmark of Jamaat-i-Islami.

He declared the upcoming elections a farce.

He said the Jamaat-i-Islami was not against elections but to participate in the next polls would be tantamount to providing legitimacy to Musharraf and strengthening his tyrannical rule to complete his American agenda.

He said the US and President Pervez Musharraf were fully aware of the fact that if the judiciary became independent than other state institutions will also emulate judiciary.

Therefore, Syed Munawar Hassan said, Musharraf imposed emergency to render the judiciary and the media totally ineffective.

He said that no doubt the judges have taken oath under the PCO in the past but it was for the first time that no less than 60 judges of the superior judiciary had resisted this practice.

NAZIM TM KHAN: Tando Mohammad Khan District Nazim Mir Inayat Ali Talpur on Sunday inaugurated Sui gas supply to Goth Bajor Khan Talpur at the outskirt of the town.