Farmers suspend march for day after standoff at Shambhu border

SHAMBHU: Farmers marching to Delhi called off their protest after a standoff with police at the Delhi-Haryana border. The farmers, who began their foot march at 1 pm on Friday, were stopped near the Shambhu border by an elaborate multi-layered barricading erected by the Haryana police.

The farmers are protesting in support of their old demand from the Centre for a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops.

The police cited a prohibitory order clamped under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which bans any unlawful assembly of five or more persons in the district.

The situation turned volatile as the police personnel used teargas to disperse the farmers as they approached the barricades. The farmers removed metal barricades and spikes but were unable to push through the barricades and cemented wall-like structures.

Eight people were injured, and two others seriously injured, farmers said, after the clash that took place on National Highway 44, near Shambhu on the Punjab-Haryana border.

“Police used their full force against us. We were quite disciplined and were holding the protest peacefully. We knew we wouldn’t be able to fight the might of the force used against us,” farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters,

“So we have called back the protest for today. Modiji cannot justify the actions taken against us. We are deeply hurt...” the farmer leader said.

“If our protest is allowed inside Delhi... I would like to ask, ‘Why are we treated as enemies?’ Punjabis and Haryanvis saved the country from hunger,” he said. He added that the farmer bodies involved - Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha - will continue the march on Sunday. “We are giving the government one day’s time to initiate a conversation,” he said.

The Haryana government suspended mobile internet and bulk SMS service in 11 villages of Ambala district till December 9. The ban was enforced in Dangdehri, Lohgarh, Manakpur, Dadiyana, Bari Ghel, Lhars, Kalu Majra, Devi Nagar, Saddopur, Sultanpur and Kakru villages.

District authorities in Ambala have ordered the closure of all government and private schools.

Meanwhile, SKM leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal continued his fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border point on Friday.

The farmers, gathered under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, have been demanding that the Centre give them a legal guarantee for MSP.

They have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, when their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.

Besides MSP, the farmers are also demanding farm debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases (against farmers), and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during the previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands.