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MULTAN, Aug 17: Law enforcement agencies had to retreat from taking action against ‘rebel’ tenants of Okara military farms on Saturday when the latter reportedly took six police officials hostage.
A heavy police contingent aided by Punjab Constabulary had been besieging the residential areas of the military farms spread on an area of 17,000 acres since Friday last.
On Saturday, a police party entered Chak 4/4L reportedly to make some arrests before overpowering the rebel tenants who had launched a province-wise movement along with the tenants of other state-managed agricultural and livestock farms to get ownership rights over their respective tenancy lands.
According to reports reaching here, as the police entered the village, hundreds of women surrounded them. They demanded immediate lifting of the siege (of the farms) as a trade-off for the release of kidnapped police officials.
Okara police authorities rushed to the troubled area and negotiated with the tenants’ families. As per the agreement, when the police ended the siege of the farms, abducted policemen were released by the tenants’ families on Saturday night.
On the other hand, rangers and police had been keeping on the siege of the Renala Khurd military farms at the time of filing this report at 11pm. Tenants of Remont military farms of Renala have also been demanding ownership rights.
It is learnt that the Director-General, Rangers, Punjab, Maj-Gen Husain Mehdi paid a visit of the Renala military farms on Friday. He is representing the government while negotiating with the rebel tenants in the Punjab. His attitude in the previous meetings, as alleged by the tenants’ leaders, was threatening and hostile.
Tenants of the Renala farms told Dawn that the rangers and police had destroyed standing crops over an area of 125 acres on Saturday to create harassment among their ranks.
They said the rangers had pressed them for talks devoid of their (tenants’) leaders but they refused to meet the officials without their leadership.
It is learnt that the rangers had taken possession of the piece of land at Renala that was under the tenancy of one Muhammad Bashir, who was killed on Jan 7 last, when the law enforcers resorted to shooting to crush tenants’ revolt.
OKARA: Sadar police said it entered the village to arrest tenants’ leaders wanted in some other cases.
It said village men, children and women armed with clubs stopped the police party outside the village and took away four constables, including ASI Muhammad Arif and SI Rao Liaqat Ali.
SSP Aslam Khan Tareen along with a heavy contingent of police rushed to the village and after a two hours negotiations managed to get his men back after holding out an assurance to the villagers that; police would not enter tenants villages in future to arrest any innocent man, police would not besiege the villages, police would not became a party to the matter among the military farms administration and tenants.
