MULTAN, June 22: Police widen siege on Saturday in the Peerowal chaks and kept vigil at closed water channels.

The police stayed there on the fourth consecutive day so as not to let tenants soak their fields and provide water to their livestock.

Telephone in these chaks have been disconnected since Wednesday.

Talking to Dawn, Peerowal tenant and Punjab Anjuman-i-Mazareen Vice President Dr Christopher John said the Punjab governor during a referendum rally in Khanewal pledged to resolve the Peerowal farms issue according to the expectations of the tenants. “We were not expecting that we would be made hostage and irrigation water supply to our crops would be stopped,” he said.

He urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf to intervene into the matter to rescue the tenants.