Patiala, March 28 — Farmer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher, Abhimanyu Kohar, and Kaka Singh Kotra, detained during a recent police crackdown, were released on Friday. Pandher, convener of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), walked out of Muktsar jail, while Kohar, Kotra, and several others were freed from Patiala Central Jail.
In a video message, Pandher denounced the Punjab Police’s action against farmers protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points. “We strongly condemn the eviction of farmers who had been camping for over a year, demanding a legal guarantee on MSP for crops,” he said.
The leaders were detained on March 19 while returning from a meeting with a central delegation led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Chandigarh. The meeting focused on the farmers’ demand for a minimum support price (MSP) guarantee. However, as they entered Mohali, police erected heavy barricades and detained several leaders.
Following the crackdown, police cleared the Shambhu and Khanauri protest sites, dismantling temporary structures. Vehicular traffic resumed on the Shambhu-Ambala and Sangrur-Jind highways.
The protesting farmers accused the AAP government of suppressing their movement by detaining leaders and dismantling the border protest camps, which they had maintained since February 13 last year after their march to Delhi was blocked by security forces.
