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| August 26, 2002 | Monday | Jamadi-us-Saani 16,1423 |
Demonstration held against killing of mly farms tenants
ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: A demonstration was staged on Sunday by the women and children against the alleged suppression of landless tenants by the rangers at the military farms in Okara.
Some of the participants had come from Okara after the Saturday’s clash between tenants and personnel of law enforcement agencies there.
The demonstration was arranged under the auspices of People’s Rights Movement (PRM) and Anjuman Mazarain Punjab, on the call of All Pakistan Alliance of Kutcha Abadis.
The demonstrators condemned the attack on the tenants in Okara by the rangers, police and other military units, says a press release issued by the PRM. According to the press release, at least three people were killed in the clash. It added that 11 tenants sustained injuries and dozens were taken into custody by the police.
It said the president, the Punjab governor, and other officials had consistently promised to give ownership rights to the tenants, but the authorities, instead, made the tenants the target of violence.
The two organization demanded immediate withdrawal of police from the area and called for allowing the human right observers to visit the area.
Meanwhile, the All Pakistan Alliance of Kutcha Abadis and other civic bodies announced that they would launch protest in support of landless tenants in Okara.
PPI ADDS: Mohammad Ikram Chaudhry, president of Lahore High Court Bar Association, Rawalpindi bench, has condemned the killing of five people, including a woman, when rangers and police opened indiscriminate fire on landless tenants in Okara on Saturday.
He asked the government to come out clean on the incident and punish those responsible. He said it was intriguing that the incident occurred on a day when a US newspaper published a list of over 100 armed forces men, each of whom allotted himself over 400 acres of prime agricultural land in Okara, Renala Khurd, Lahore, Sargodha, Khanewal and other districts of the Punjab and Sindh.
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