MULTAN, July 25: Tenants at the Peerowal farms of the Punjab Seed Corporation in Khanewal district protested on Sunday against atrocities inflicted upon the tenants of Okara military farms by the police.

The tenants took out a protest rally under the banner of Anjuman Mazareen Punjab. Tenants from all the seven villages of the Peerowal farms participated in the rally. The protesters condemned the highhandedness of the law enforcement agencies against the hapless tenants on the premises of Okara district courts a few days ago.

"Tenants of all the state-run agricultural and livestock farms are united to get ownership rights against their tenancy lands," central AMP leader Dr Christopher John maintained.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr John said the tenants would not retire from their slogan 'malki ya maut' (ownership or death). Another AMP leader, Aqeela Naz, strongly condemned the arrest of some women at the Okara farms.

Thousands of women from the tenants' families would court arrest in protest if the government did not release the detained women, she warned. The rally also condemned the detention orders issued against some tenants of the Okara farm.

Supporting the Human Rights Watch report about continuous highhandedness of Rangers and police against Okara tenants, the speakers said with the recent acts of violence against the poor tenants the law enforcement agencies had proved that the HRW report was based on truth.

The New York based human rights watchdog body, HRW, has recently released a report that carries appalling account of ongoing atrocities against the Okara tenants at the behest of military authorities.