SAHIWAL: A tense standoff between Pakpattan district police and about 700 peasants (mazareen), including women and children, from the Muhammad Nagar Seed Farm in Arifwala tehsil escalated into a full-blown police operation over the weekend.

The peasants had been protesting for two days against the government’s decision to reallocate their “ancestral land” — cultivated by them for nearly a century — to a private company.

According to eyewitness accounts, a large contingent of policemen, including elite force personnel, arrived at the farm on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by revenue officials, heavy machinery, tractors, eight prisoner vans and 40 police vehicles.

The operation aimed to vacate 528 acres of land currently held by peasants of Muhammad Nagar Seed Farm.

Eyewitnesses say heavy machinery used to destroy standing crops, level fields in Arifwala operation

Reports suggested that the land was allocated to the private firm by the District Revenue Department on the Punjab government’s directives on Feb 20.

The land vacation operation was led by DSP Sadar Malik Tariq, Arifwala Assistant Commissioner Roman Raees, and Sadar Police Station SHO Abid Ashiq Mohar.

Pakpattan Deputy Commissioner Sadia Mehr said the operation was conducted under sections 33 and 34 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, on orders from the Punjab Board of Revenue.

She claimed that the administration had attempted to negotiate with the peasants several times, but they refused to comply.

Muhammad Ikhlaq, President of the local Anjuman Mazareen Punjab chapter, told Dawn that the land was originally granted to his great-grandfather Charag Din and 33 other families in 1928 under the Government Land Reforms Act of 1912.

“This land was barren then, but our fourth generation is now cultivating it,” Mr Ikhlaq said. “We are now helpless to protect it.”

As of 8pm, heavy machinery was being used to destroy standing crops cultivated by the peasants, levelling the fields despite their protests.

Mr Ikhlaq claimed that the peasants had secured a stay order on Oct 9 from Justice Shamasul Mahmood of the Lahore High Court (LHC) to prevent the sale of the land.

However, he alleged that the Pakpattan Deputy Commissioner proceeded with the allocation to the private company.

The writ petition was filed by Muhammad Jabbar, a tenant of the Muhammad Nagar farm, under Article 199 of the Constitution through Advocate Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf.

Mr Ikhlaq also claimed that the senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, had also granted a stay order on the same land on Aug 19, 2011, when he was an LHC judge.

The peasants’ legal claim traces back to a judgement CA 221 of 1995 passed by the Supreme Court on Oct 25, 1989, which established a 60:40 produce-sharing ratio between owners and peasants.

The Supreme Court had also ruled that in case of any sale to a third party, the cost of inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides and tube well water should be split on a 50:50 basis. The 528-acre farm was designated an Agricultural Seed Farm in 1928 under Section 10 of the Colonisation of Government Land Act, 1912.

The Arifwala DSP and assistant commissioner could not be reached for comment.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024