As more farm factions back stir, team set up to aid coordination

A tense farmers' uprising that has gripped the Punjab-Haryana border could get bigger with more factions sealing talks to join the protests, leaders associated with the movement said on Friday.

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Refusing to back down on a host of agricultural demands, even as the farmers extended their halt on their march to Delhi till February 29 and turned their focus on the death of a protester earlier this week, farm unions held talks to forge unity between various factions, forming an 11-member team, a prominent leader said after marathon discussions.

"The current agitation will get bigger and the march to Delhi will resume once demands to grant martyr status for deceased farmer Shubh Karan Singh is acceded to, his post-mortem is carried out and a case is lodged against Haryana Police (accused of firing on the protester)," Sarwan Singh Pandher, leader of Kisan Mazdoor Sangh Committee (KSMC), said.

Shubh Karan Singh died after he was hit by a bullet allegedly fired by Haryana Police during the agitation at Khanauri on Punjab-Haryana border on Wednesday.

The farmers have said that they will not allow an autopsy or the cremation of the 21-year-old man till Punjab Police files a case against the police in Haryana, which they blame for the fatality.