LAHORE, Aug 6: President Gen Pervez Musharraf is either misled on the Okara tenants’ issue or he is deliberately trying to mislead the nation, alleges human rights activist Asma Jehangir.

She was speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday. Ms Shah Taj of the Joint Action Committee, a conglomerate of 32 civil society organizations, Dr Christopher John, a recently released leader of the Anjuman-i-Mazareen Punjab, and Farooq Tariq of the Labour Party were with her.

She said the president while briefing the editors and columnists at the Governor’s House had denied that any injustice was being meted out to the tenants of the Okara military farms, and passed the blame on some non-government organizations. “It shows that the president does not understand the nature of fight the human rights organizations and NGOs are putting in,” she said, adding that “both are committed to pointing out any injustice being done in the country.”

“The president, in fact, is trying to cover up his promises he had made during his referendum campaign about granting state lands to the tenants. But now he is not only trying to drag his feet from his early promise by converting the nature of tenancy and change over from batai to contract, but also giving green signal to those who already have unleashed a reign of terror on these hapless tenants,” she said.

She added that the president should have realized that several tenants had lost their lives and suffered injuries in their struggle for their rights.

As many as 306 tenants were arrested from May 1 to July 20 this year for not paying the Rangers the “contract” money. During the same period, around 187 people were injured and over 100 relatives of the tenants were sacked from jobs.