06 February 2005	Sunday	26 Zilhaj 1425

OKARA, Feb 5: Hundreds of military farm tenants blocked the GT Road and the Lahore-Karachi railway track, 5km from here, on Saturday to protest the establishment of checkpoints on their land by the army.

The protesters, including women and children, reached Tabrook at 3pm and barricaded the GT Road and the railway track nearby.

Though they cleared the rails after over an hour, they stayed put on the dual highway for nearly six hours until the military farms management agreed to wind up the posts built on the roads leading to the dwellings of tenants.

The worst sufferers of this episode were thousands of commuters whose vehicles had been stuck in the blockade. The protesters also burnt tyres on the road. A couple of trains also got delayed.

The military farm tenants, it may be added, have launched a drive to seek ownership rights for the land they and their elders have been tilling since the British rule.

The land which belongs to the Punjab government has been obtained by the army on lease since long. The trouble started when the military farm management asked the tenants to toil the land on lease.