21 July 2004	Wednesday	03 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 20: The Pakistan Army on Tuesday rejected a report by a US-based human rights group accusing military authorities of torturing farmers in Punjab, and described it as an interference in Pakistan's internal affairs.

"I totally reject the contents of the report," said Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR), Major-General Shaukat Sultan, when his comments were sought on the observations of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) group.

When asked about the recommendations of the report that Rangers should be withdrawn from Okara, Maj-Gen Sultan said: "They (HRW) are nobody to say that Rangers should be withdrawn."

He said deployment of forces, including civil armed forces, is an internal matter of Pakistan. "They have been deputed to maintain law and order in accordance with the law of the land," he said.

Maj-Gen Sultan totally rejected the allegation of extra-judicial killings by paramilitary forces. However, he said cases of four persons killed had been appropriately taken up in accordance with the due process of law.

About the ownership of Okara farms, Maj-Gen Sultan said the land had been given on lease to the armed forces by the government of Punjab through the Ministry of Defence.

He said the cases which the locals had taken to courts were rejected by district courts and the high court. An intra-court appeal by the locals was also rejected by the high court, he said, adding that the army was the rightful lessee of the land.

He said the land was being used by the military to meet food requirements of the three services. A Senate functional committee on human rights has already formed a sub-committee to probe into the loss of life and other issues of tenants of the military farms with the directions to submit a 'confidential report'.

The committee, which is headed by S. M. Zafar, has Senators Raza Rabbani, Farhatullah Babar, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, Latif Khosa, Dr Mohammad Said and Dr Khalid Ranjha as members.