ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: An-juman Mazarain Punjab (AMP) staged a demonstration in front of the Parliament House here on Tuesday to raise the issue of landless tenants working on state farms in the Punjab.

Representatives of the People’s Rights Movement (PRM) also joined the AMP in the protest.

Among the parliamentarians who expressed solidarity with the tenant’s cause included Sherry Rehman of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Liaquat Baloch (Jamat Islami), Hafiz Hussain Ahmed (Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam), Makhdoom Javed Hashmi (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz), and Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party.

The AMP chairman, Liaquat Ali, apprised the parliamentarians of the move by the ministry of defence which he claimed was coercing the Punjab government to transfer ownership of Okara military farm to the armed forces.

He said as the dispute over the Legal Framework Order had reached a critical juncture, it was unfortunate that the mainstream opposition parties did not initiate a popular struggle against the “antics of the establishment,”.

Ms Rehman vowed to organize another visit to the Okara military farms and exert pressure on the government to accede to the tenants’ demands.