Protesting farmers and the Punjab government agreed to come to negotiating table after the former were baton-charged and arrested by police when they reached The Mall here on Wednesday and tried to block the road for traffic.

“We decided to postpone our protest and go for talks when the government agreed to form a committee for discussing ways and means for implementing the recommendations we had submitted to the authorities months ago for improving the agriculture sector,” said Chaudhry Shaukat Chadhar, general secretary of the Kissan Board Pakistan, one of two farmers’ groups who assembled at the Charing Cross earlier in the day to press for their demands.

Their demands include fixing support prices of wheat at Rs2,000 and of sugarcane at Rs300 per 40 kg, and introducing a flat rate of Rs5 per unit for tube-wells.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1588687/farmers-postpone-protest-after-baton-charge-arrests