HYDERABAD: Armed men assisted by police took over two private sugar mills — the Seri Sugar Mills (situated in Hyderabad district) and the Tando Mohammad Khan Sugar Mills — after dispossessing their managements appointed by the family of former Sindh governor Ashraf W. Tabani on Sunday, family sources said.

A case (198/15) under Sections 448, 511, 147, 148, 149, 109 and 337H(ii) of the PPC was registered at the Serai police station against the deputy general manager of the Seri Sugar Mills, Moinuddin, along with Sultan Sikandar, Yousuf Maitlo, Iqbal Hajano, Tariq Pathan, Shafiq Kashmir, Anis Pathan and eight other persons on the complaint of the purported deputy manager, Mohammad Aslam Khan. “I can’t disclose anything to you. I am in a meeting and not able to tell you anything,” said Mr Khan when contacted for his comment.

According to a Tabani family member, they [the family] resisted the forcible takeover but without much help from the authorities concerned. “You know it’s being done at the behest of a powerful group of industries that now owns most sugar mills in Sindh,” he said, but appeared not ready to come on record as he looked terrified, fearing a backlash if he tried to spill the beans.

Iqbal Hajano, another senior labour leader, said Aslam Khan was a management officer at another sugar mills “who has lodged a false FIR against Mr Moinuddin and other workers including me.”

The family had bought the Tando Mohammed Khan Sugar Mills from the Fauji Foundation.

According to him, a sale agreement was indeed signed between his family and the willing buyer group one-and-a-half years ago but the group has made not payment to as was mutually agreed. “How can we hand over the two mills to the group?” he argued.

Sindh Sugar Mills Workers Federation president Ashraf Rajput told this reporter that an agreement was signed between the Tabani family and an industrialist group but payment was yet to be made. “Around 60-70 workers were picked up by police during the midnight raid on the Seri Sugar Mills. The detained people were let off somewhere in Matiari and their mobile phones were seized,” he added.

The labour leader said that armoured personnel carriers were brought in and the armed men [accompanying the police] also fired into the air at the gate of the mills.

He said police broke the [Seri Sugar] mills gate to enter and picked up the workers present inside. “We were later freed in Matiari ... then we proceeded to Tando Mohammad Khan,” said Mr Hajano, who is associated with the Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party and has since gone into hiding.

The Tabani family member claimed that the group which had taken over the mills had been preventing commencement of cane crushing. He, however, avoided sharing details of the sale agreement. “It is something private,” he insisted.

According to him, the ‘buyer’ had occupied both the mills on Nov 8 in violation of the Nov 6 SHC order directing the two sides to maintain a status quo. “We again moved the court which passed another order on Dec 3 after getting an inquiry conducted through a sessions judge as regard to the status of the mills. But, police raided the Seri Sugar Mills on Sunday morning,” he said.

Mr Hajano, claimed that “the Hyderabad DIG has submitted a statement in the high court informing it that mills’ possession has been restored to Tabanis, who actually own the mills, in line with its order.” He added that the Seri Sugar Mills was renamed as the Southern Sugar Mills.

The Tabani family member, said that a strong contingent of police expelled workers from both mills in the wee hours of Monday. “The employees closed the doors and the security staff took positions inside. A TV journalist Ansar Inquilabi was detained by police on Sunday morning for covering the episode. Local journalists later got him released by approaching higher police officers.”

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2015