VEHARI: Police on Tuesday registered a case against 500 farmers associated with the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad, nominating 40 of them in the FIR, under section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act (ATA) and various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The FIR was registered on the complaint of the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) Burewala Sub-Divisional Officer Muneer Razi, a day after a clash between PKI activists and power distribution company staffers.

The case was registered by Model Town (Burewala) police under section 7 of the ATA and 436, 427, 148, 149 and 342 of the PPC.

The PKI activists nominated in the case include Mehran, Nadeem, Sajjad, Riaz, Shehzad, Naveed, Noor Ahmed, Muneer Ahmed, Sajid, Ramzan, Saifullah, Rashid, Tariq, Abbas, Arshad, Rao Usman, Rasheed, Tayab, Saleem, Malik Muhsin, Nuaman, Murtaza, Shabbir Chohan, Muhammad Arab, Shahid Raza and Farooq.

No arrest has so far been made.

PKI district president Zulfiqar Awan told journalists that the case was registered against the farmers despite Vehari District Police Officer (DPO) Ahmed Nasir Aziz’s assurance that no legal action would be taken against the farmers who had dispersed peacefully.

He said Kissan Ittehad had also filed an application for registration of a case against Mepco Burewala employees but police ignored it.

He alleged that local Mepco officials were involved in power theft and were targeting the poor farmers for recovery of line losses by sending them inflated bills of their tubewells.

He warned if Mepco authorities did not not accept their demand, the PKI after 10th of Muharram, would launch province-wide protest.

Model Town police Station House Officer Rana Akram admitted that PKI application was received but not case was register against Mepco employees.

At least 26 people were injured on Monday in a clash between the activists of PKI and Mepco employees at the Burewala Mepco office in Vehari Bazaar.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2018