LAHORE, Aug 29: Tenants working on state land will observe a mourning week from Friday against the killing of Salman Masih and injuring of dozens of others reportedly in firing by Rangers in Okara on Aug 24.

This was announced by Labour Party general secretary Farooq Tariq and Justice and Peace Commission representative Irfan Barkat at a press conference here on Thursday.

Protest demonstrations, rallies and meetings will be held during the week. The first meeting has been scheduled for Friday in Chak 10/4-L.

Both the leaders denied the Rangers’ claim that Rs50,000 had been paid to the heirs of the deceased besides making arrangements for his burial.

Salman’s cousin Lucas said though they were poor they would not accept compensation against the killing to follow in the footprints of the heirs of the seven tenants earlier killed by law-enforcement agencies during the movement “ownership of death.”

He claimed that there were evidences that Salman had been kidnapped by the Rangers and then shot dead. There were marks of severe torture on his body, he alleged, adding they had moved the Lahore High Court on Thursday for exhumation of his body.

Mr Barkat and JPC’s Khushi Lal refuted the Rangers’ claim that pickets had been removed. They said the residents of Chak 10/4-L were being harassed and tortured at these pickets.

Denying Brig Ehsan Tiwana’s statement that 45 per cent tenants had signed the package offered by the Rangers, Mr Tariq said if the army was not ready to give ownership rights to the tenants, it should at least offer the land for a 99-year lease.

He, however, made it clear that the government would have to withdraw the Rangers and the package besides registering a case for the murder of Salman against the officials responsible before initiating the negotiation process.

He told reporters that a habeas corpus petition had been filed with the LHC for the recovery of Anwar Javed Dogar from illegal custody of law-enforcement agencies. The court had directed the advocate-general to seek a report from the Okara SSP and present the same in the court on the next hearing of the case.