April 20, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1427

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OKARA, April 19: The Anjuman-i-Mazareen Punjab leaders have taken strong exception to what, they say, illegal arrest of scores of tenants of military farms in Bail Ganj, Pakpattan.

They told this correspondent that the police action irritated the peaceful tenants at the time of wheat harvesting. They have demanded the immediate release of the detainees who, according to them, are being manhandled.

Meanwhile, hundreds of men and women (tenants) who had been coming to Pakpattan over the issue called off their protest temporarily after the assurance of the police that they would cooperate. It is learnt that the police set free three tenants.

According to reports, hundreds of tenants poured onto the Pakpattan Road (Deepalpur) from the Bail Ganj military farms and chanted slogans for the release of their arrested tenants.

After a couple of hours, SHO Tahir Waheed of Chak Bedi police station held talks with the tenant leaders, including AMP Bail Ganj president Yasin Butta, Ghulam Shabbir, Muhammad Ashiq Ali and Master Suleman. Later, he set free three tenants — Akbar Sameeja, Sarwar and Ashraf — as they were not involved in any case.

Meanwhile, some tenants claimed that three boys had been picked up by the police. One of them, a ninth class student, was in the police custody though he is supposed to appear in an examination on Thursday (today).