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| September 18, 2002 | Wednesday | Rajab 10, 1423 |
Rangers again forced to retreat
MULTAN, Sept 17: Rangers and police had to retreat once again from taking further action against tenants of Okara military farms on Tuesday when women and children of the latter’s families intended to put resistance.
Reports said a heavy police contingent started besieging Chak 5/4L at about 10am. After some time, Rangers also joined the police.
Okara tenants have been demanding proprietary rights along with tenants of 20 other state-managed agricultural and livestock farms against the lands of their tenancies which they claim to have been cultivating for nearly a century. Refusing to do so, the government has deployed police and Rangers at most of the farms to deal with the rebels.
On Aug 24 last, Suleman Masih, 20, was killed as a result of a clash between Rangers and tenants. Since then, the situation is tense.
On Tuesday morning, when the law-enforcers started gathering at Chak 5/4-L, units of the Anjuman-i-Mazareen raised alarms in each and every chak of the farms. Within no time, women and children carrying clubs and sticks came out of their houses to resist further march of the Rangers and the police. AMP leaders also warned the police authorities that any untoward incident could be happened as the people were already enraged on the death of Suleman Masih.
It is learnt that the police authorities leading the contingent at the farms also briefed their highups about the situation. Consequently, the authorities ordered the advancing law-enforcers to withdraw and put off the ‘mission’.
Later on, Okara Saddar police DSP Fazal Muhammad held talks with the tenants, and said the police wanted to arrest some ‘criminals’ from the chak.
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