Farmer Leaders Released After Police Crackdown; Protesters Condemn Punjab Govt's Actions
Farmer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher, Abhimanyu Kohar, and Kaka Singh Kotra, who were detained during a recent police crackdown, were released on Friday. The detentions followed a meeting with a central delegation regarding key farmer demands.
Pandher, a leader of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, was released from Muktsar jail, while Kohar, Kotra, and several others were freed from Patiala Central Jail. In a video statement, Pandher strongly criticized the Punjab Police for its actions against farmers protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points—locations where farmers had been camped for over a year. Chief among their demands is a legal guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops.
The crackdown took place on March 19 as the farmer leaders were returning from a meeting with a central delegation led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Chandigarh. The meeting was intended to address the farmers' long-standing demands, particularly the MSP guarantee.
As the group entered Mohali after the meeting, they encountered heavy police barricades, and several leaders were detained. Following this, police cleared the protest sites at Shambhu and Khanauri, dismantling temporary camps and restoring traffic on the Shambhu-Ambala and Sangrur-Jind highways.
The farmer community has condemned the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for detaining their leaders and dismantling the camps at the protest sites. Farmers had been stationed at the border points since February 13, 2024, after their march to Delhi was blocked by security forces.
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