MULTAN, June 19: Hundreds of police and Elite Force personnel arrived Peerowal on Wednesday evening reportedly with orders from the Punjab government to take possession of some 7,000 acres of state land from tenants.

Police contingents were seen on all the roads and intersections that led to chaks 86, 75, 87, 83, 85, 82 and 81 (10-Rs) of Punjab Seed Corporation farms in Peerowal, Khanewal district when this correspondent visited the area.

The PSC’s Peerowal management on Tuesday night closed the water channels which irrigated the seven villages, and deployed police at sources of all the water channels.

It is learnt that at a meeting held at the Governor’s House in Lahore on June 7 last, the governor had showed annoyance over the inept handling of the situation in Peerowal by the Agriculture Department, police and the district government. He gave two weeks to settle the issue. The deadline will expire on June 21.

Tenants in Peerowal were anticipating that the police pulled-up was, perhaps, to ensure writ of the government by uprooting the crop before the deadline given by the ‘Laat Sahib’ of present days. They said their movement for ownership rights was a peaceful struggle, and that they would avoid confrontation with the police.

When contacted, Khanewal police chief Ghulam Rasool Zahid denied that there was any plan to launch an ‘offensive’ against the rebel tenants. But when questioned the presence of such a heavy build-up of law enforcers, he said the “situation can be changed at any moment”. He said the police would try to avert any untoward situation.

Khanewal district Nazim Ahmad Yar Hiraj said his government had no responsibility in this particular case. When reminded him that law and order was the responsibility of the district government, he said it would be better to ask this question to the Governor’s House.

It may be noted here that this year tenants of Peerowal farms did not share wheat crop with the PSC claiming that now they could not bear the exploits of PSC officials. However, in a development on Wednesday, they initiated the ‘batai’ process through the revenue department after a settlement reached by the union council Nazim, Iqbal Sahu, and the district administration on the basis of a yield of 15 maunds per acre.

Sources claimed that ‘razed-the-crop’ operation would be launched at midnight between Wednesday and Sunday by the PSC staff in the protected supervision of the Punjab police.