OKARA, April 5: Scores of Okara Military Farm tenants staged a sit-in on the Okara-Shahbore Road on Tuesday, demanding immediate abolition of army check posts in several localities. Reports said scores of tenants barricaded the main road, which is a few kilometres away from the GT Road, and allowed only two-wheelers and rickshaws to go pass. They thwarted the official vehicles and demanded the district administration that it should abolish the army check posts at Chak 11/4-L and Chak 15/4-L, besides the under-construction check posts at Chak 11/4-L.

Raising slogans against the military, the tenants, headed by Anjuman-i-Mazareen Punjab Secretary-General Mehr Abdul Sattar, Younis Iqbal and David Masih, vowed to continue their struggle to get lands which, they said, their forefathers had been cultivating for long.

They also appealed to human rights’ activists to support their peaceful struggle.

It is learnt that the tenants hampered construction of check posts by lying on fields due to which crops over hundreds of acres were destroyed.

Meanwhile, the Rangers and police forces stood alert at Adda Tabrook on the GT Road and other sensitive areas to guard against any untoward incident.

Later, the tenants dispersed after negotiations with DPO Syed Zafar Abbas Bokhari. The traffic was restored around 5:30pm.

It was decided that a meeting would be held between the AMP leaders and the district administration on Thursday (tomorrow) to decide the fate of the check posts and recovery of lease amounts from the tenants.

KILLED: A man was killed while two others injured when their car collided with a truck parked on the Okara-Faisalabad Road near Gogera on Tuesday.

According to reports, Naveed Raza, Shakil Ahmad and Pervez suffered injuries when their car collided with a truck. They were taken to the DHQ Hospital where Naveed breathed his last.

Shakeel was referred to a Lahore hospital because of his critical condition.

PPP LEADER: PPP Secretary-General Jehangir Badr has said Asif Ali Zardari will be accorded a memorable welcome on April 16.

“It will be a great political event in the history of the party as well as the country,” he told this correspondent late Monday night at the residence of PPP former National Assembly ticket-holder Rai Ghulam Mujtaba Kharal in connection with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s 26th death anniversary.

Mr Badr requested the people of Okara and party workers not to miss Mr Zardari’s welcome in Lahore.