Representatives of farmers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan, petitioned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government to establish the Pakhtunkhwa Tobacco Board through legislation to protect and safeguard the rights and interests of poor growers in the province.
“According to Pakistan’s Constitution, agriculture is a provincial subject,” said Liaqat Yousafzai, central president of the Tobacco Growers Association Pakistan. “However, the federal government had illegally and unconstitutionally taken control of it. Now, under the downsizing policy, the federal government has decided to either abolish or transfer certain government departments and institutions to the provinces, including the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB).”
He urged the provincial government to seize the opportunity and set up the Pakhtunkhwa Tobacco Board to stop the ongoing exploitation of growers at the hands of existing PTB and the multinational and national tobacco companies. Local leaders have long argued control of tobacco should be handed over to the province as per the constitution.
The Tehreek-e-Ittehad Kashtkaran Pakhtunkhwa leaders, including TIKP’s chairman Arif Ali Khan, senior vice-chairman Dawood Jan Khan of Ismaila, vice-chairman Iqbal Khan of Shewa, general secretary Asfandyar Khan, joint secretary Shahab Khan, Ahmad Jan Kaka of Marghuz and others also attended the meeting.
“Now that the federal government has decided to withdraw from it and transfer the Pakistan Tobacco Board to the province, it is the responsibility of the KP government to move forward and take the control of the province’s most lucrative crop, tobacco, into its own hands,” Khan said.
The speakers said the existing PTB was established in 1968 but did not include any provisions for the protection of the interests of tobacco farmers. Some protections for farmers were added over time, however, “due to the federal government’s lack of interest and at the behest of tobacco companies, the implementation of these laws had not been carried out in recent years, and the tobacco crop has been under the control of multinational companies,” they said.