MULTAN, March 3: A tenants’ convention of the state-owned agriculture and livestock farms in the province has threatened an agitational drive for their demand of proprietary rights against their tenancy land.

Hundreds of tenants and their families attended the moot which was organized by the Anjuman Mazareen Punjab at Peerowal farms of the Punjab Seed Corporation in the Khanewal district on Monday.

Prominent among the tenant leaders on the occasion were Anwar Javed Dogar, Younas Iqbal, Dr Christopher John, Aqeela Naz, Faiza Bibi, Ghani Javed and David Zahid.

It was said that the convention was held to commemorate the first anniversary of the pledge of Peerowal tenants that they would not share crops with the PSC under the slogan of ‘ownership or death’. It may be mentioned that Peerowal tenants had refused to cooperate with the farm management at a big rally held on March 3, 2002.

Since then they have refused to budge before all pressure tactics of the officials and successfully sailed through enormous hardships to remain firm on their stand.

However, since the inception of ‘civilian rule’ there have been a respite in state aggression against the ‘rebel’ tenants. Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has constituted a committee headed by Agriculture Minister Arshad Khan Lodhi to find out a peaceful solution to the ‘tenants-government row’. The committee has yet to finalize its proposals.

Most of the speakers hailed the CM for constituting the committee and termed it an achievement of the just struggle of the AMP.

The convention also demanded the release of AMP activists from various jails in the province and abolition of the fabricated cases against them. Rationalization of the prices of farm inputs, such as, fertilizers, seed pesticides and power was also demanded.

The convention adopted a unanimous resolution that if their demands were not met before the harvest of current wheat crop the tenants of the age of 70 years and above would court arrests before the Punjab Assembly. They would launch a ‘jail bharo’ movement throughout the province if their protest was fallen on the deaf ear.