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| June 7, 2003 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 6, 1424 |
EU may send team to Okara farms
ISLAMABAD, June 6: The European Union (EU) will consider the idea of undertaking an independent fact-finding mission to Okara military farms to ascertain the truth about the state of affairs prevailing there.
This was stated by EU mission representatives in Pakistan during a meeting with a delegation, comprising representatives of Anjuman Mazarain Punjab (AMP) and the People’s Rights Movement (PRM), here on Friday.
The delegation included AMP president Khushi Dola, executive members Safiya Bibi and Altaf Bibi, and PRM representatives Asim Sajjad and Asha Amirali. The activists of both the civil society bodies also observed a token hunger strike outside the EU mission office where the meeting took place.
The mission officials said they had been keeping up to date information about the events in Okara and elsewhere on state farms in the Punjab, but that their knowledge was limited to newspaper reports and other second-hand sources.
The AMP president mentioned the current state of affairs in Okara, the events leading up to the murder of Mohammad Amir in Chak 5-4/l on May 11, and the subsequent siege to which tenants had been subjected. He said the situation was likely to worsen on account of reports indicating that a number of AMP leaders in Okara had been declared fugitives and their names placed on the Exit Control List.
He also highlighted that tenants and their relatives were still being arrested and subjected to physical violence on a daily basis. He urged the EU representatives to take up the issue and demanded that the government should live up to its commitments to ensuing democratic practice, the rule of law, and protecting basic rights and freedom of citizens.
The AMP and PRM activists were told that an EU mission was due in Pakistan shortly to discuss with the government the state of democracy and human rights in the country.
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