MULTAN, May 4: Nine tenants were injured by Rangers’ firing in the Bael Ganj army farm in Pakpattan district on Friday. The authorities, however, said that two peasants had been injured in the ‘clash’.
Mahr Abdul Sattar of the Anjuman Mazarian Punjab said the situation — already tense with tenants demanding ownership rights of the land on which they and their elders have been toiling for decades — worsened when Rangers who run the farm ‘kidnapped’ two tenants following a harvesting dispute.
He said that when other tenants resisted the kidnapping, Rangers and farm staff opened fire, injuring nine of them. He identified them as Altaf, 45, Khalil Ahmed, 34, Zaffar Ahmed, 22, Noor Ahmed, 70, Muhammad Arif, 40, Gulzar Ahmed, 18, Noor Hassan, 25, and Usmaan, 8. He said four of the injured were in critical condition.
Farm manager Col Waseem Butt was not available for comments. Mirza Muhammad Ali, the Regional Police Officer of Multan, claimed that only two peasants had been injured in the clash while some staff members of the farm and Rangers staff were hurt.
He said that a large number of policemen from other districts had been sent to Bael Gunj to keep the situation under control.
Maher Abdul Sattar demanded registration of an FIR against Rangers and farm administration. He also called for implementation of a 1989 decision of the Federal Land Commission requiring transfer of the ownership of the land to tenants and withdrawal of Rangers from the area.
