ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: Anjuman Mazarain Punjab (AMP) has rejected the claim that Malki ya Maut movement is dead.

A press release issued here on Tuesday said the recent events on Okara military farms, in which thousands of tenants were forced to sign limited-year contracts that revoke tenancy status, reflected the high levels of state repression that had been employed to derail the movement.

“But, AMP reiterates in the strongest possible terms its demand for ownership rights of 68,000 acres of land in the Punjab that has been tilled by tenants for almost a century.”

AMP and the 150,000 people on Okara military farms do not accept the contracts that they have been forced to sign (or thumb print), it said adding “the tenants will not abide by the terms of the contract as it has no legal weight given the manner in which tenants were forced to sign it.”

It said the tenants would not pay any outstanding money nor the rent. The Anjuman Mazarain Punjab demands once again that representatives of the Punjab government-the owner of the land in question-meet with tenants and resolve the dispute in a productive and conciliatory manner.

All of the recent harassment by police and Rangers forces has reinforced the mistrust that tenants feel toward the authorities, the representatives said.

The AMP asserts that the movement for ownership right is not restricted only to Okara military farms but is alive and well in Khanewal, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Lahore, Pakpattan, and a host of other districts.

Tenants in Sahiwal who have been issued eviction notices continue to resist.

Tenants in Khanewal who themselves suffered through a suffocating siege by the authorities in June/July continue to resist. Tenants in Sargodha who have already been paying rents to local authorities will not pay rents any longer.

The Anjuman Mazarain Punjab representatives said: “We will not give up our demands for ownership rights at the barrel of the gun as the Rangers and police have attempted. We will challenge the intimidation and harassment that has taken place through a public interest writ petition on human rights grounds in the High Court.”

“We reiterate our commitment to resolving this matter in an amicable manner so as to avoid bloodshed.

We cannot forget the 6 tenants we have already lost and their deaths will go to waste unless we are conferred proprietary rights.”

The AMP representatives demanded that the government should treat them in the manner that all citizens of Pakistan should be treated.

They also urged international observers and human rights groups to come and see for themselves the high level of repression that they were facing.

The military government needs to be held accountable for the obscene manner in which it has dealt with this issue, they said.