Haryana Police Friday fired teargas shells to disperse protesting farmers when they moved towards the barricades at the Shambhu barrier on Punjab-Haryana border, hours after the farm leaders announced a “ceasefire” after a marathon third round of talks with a team of three Union ministers remained inconclusive. The fresh confrontation comes on the fourth day of the farmers' 'Dilli Chalo' march, and two days before the fourth round of talks between the farmers and the Centre on Sunday. The forces stationed on Haryana side fired the teargas shells around 2pm after some youth on the Punjab side allegedly set some gunny bags afire and hurled them at the security personnel. The incident is reflective of the uneasy calm prevailing at the Haryana-Punjab border, where the protesters are waiting for a go-ahead from the farmer leaders. Despite pleas from the organisers of the march — Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) — not to succumb to provocation and to maintain calm, a group of young farmers went ahead and carried out the mischief, said Dilbagh Singh Harigarh, a member of BKU-Ekta-Azad. Ishaan Singh Brahmpura from Tarn Taran also tried to talk sense into a small group of youths even as the youngsters voiced frustration questioning the purpose of the protest if leaders weren’t ready to march to Delhi. Tejinder Singh Teja, a young farmer from Upleri village near Rajpura, said, “What is the need of this morcha, if we can’t move forward?.” Meanwhile, KMM coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher accused the Centre of trying to "suppress" the voices of the protesters, claiming social media accounts of farmers and YouTubers have been suspended. Talking to reporters, Pandher said that during the meeting with Union ministers on Thursday, "we raised the issue of the suspension of Internet and X handles of farmer leaders". Also alleging that the government has suspended the accounts of around 70 YouTubers who were showing farmers' protest, he said it appears "the government wants to suppress our voice." Pandher said that during the talks, they raised the issue of the use of "force" against farmers by the paramilitary personnel deployed at the Punjab-Haryana border who fired teargas shells at the protesters. He claimed that around 70 farmers have sustained serious injuries in an action by Haryana security personnel at Shambhu and Khanauri borders. The farmer leader said the talks with the Union ministers were held in a positive atmosphere and various demands of the protesters, including a law on MSP and debt waiver, were discussed. The government said they wanted to continue talks, Pandher said, adding that their 'Dilli Chalo' call still stands and the protesters were staying put at the Punjab-Haryana border so that a solution emerges through talks. WITH PTI
