OKARA, Aug 8: Military Farms administration and the tenants have reached an agreement that will be implemented after its approval by the GHQ and the chief of army staff, Brig Muhammad Ihsan Tiwana, the Rangers deputy director general, said on Wednesday.

Brig Tiwana was speaking at a gathering of reporters at the Military Farms rest house. Regretting the past excesses, he said, the army would also provide funds for tenants’ welfare.

Under the agreement, Brig Tiwana said, tenants will get seven-year leases of Military Farms land at Okara, Renala Khurd, Probanabad and Bail Gunny. The lease amount will be half that prevailing in the neighbourhood. The leases will be renewable. The lessees will not be allowed to sublet the land. In case of a lessee’s death the lease will be transferred to his designated heir. All rates and taxes, including agriculture income tax, water rate and land revenue will be paid by the administration. The amounts owed by the tenants for the last two years will be recovered in instalments over four years. Village committees will decide any disputes arising between the parties. The Military Farms employees suspended from service recently will be reinstated and the tenants’ children provided Rangers jobs. Trees on the land will be divided equally between the parties.

Brig Tiwana said the Punjab governor Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool (retired) will visit the area next month to formally announce the agreement.

Anjuman Maz-areen Punjab leaders, however, denied that they had held any negotiations with Brig Tiwana or signed any agreement.

Anjuman chairman Anwar Javed Dogar, president Abdul Jabbar and general secretary Yunus Iqbal said in a statement that the brigadier was trying to impose his ‘solution’ on them.

They said they would not hold talks with anybody other than the Punjab governor. They also vowed to continue their “ownership or death” movement.