MULTAN, Nov 27: A committee formed by the Punjab chief minister on the issue of ownership of land being cultivated by tenants of Khanewal seed farms has failed to resolve the issue even after a lapse of one and a half years.

Anjuman Mazareen Punjab president Ghulam Abbas Sial told this correspondent that tenants had been cultivating the land since 1892 and they also dug up a canal and its tributaries without any governmental help for irrigation.

“We are seeking ownership of the land as we have been cultivating it generation after generation.”

He said the 5,400-acre land spreading over seven chaks (villages) had been leased to a company — British Cotton Growing — in 1920 and at that time many farmers who were cultivating it had protested against the lease and refused to hand over its possession to the company.

As a result the people who had resisted succeeded to get the ownership rights while others remained deprived, he said.

Mr Sial said the lease expired in 1973 and the agriculture department took over matters of the land and later transferred it to Punjab Seed Corporation (PSC).

He said PSC had dealt with tenants mannerly till 1988 but it started creating hurdles by mentioning them as leaseholders instead of tenants after 1995.

“The PSC’s behaviour had forced us to set up Anjuman Mazareen Punjab in 2001, demanding death or ownership.”

He said the AMP had also moved the Supreme Court which termed the issue a state-related matter while a federal land commission, led by Justice Rao Hashim, ordered transfer of the land to tenants.

In the meantime, Mr Sial said, the corporation suspended water supply for three months and policemen besieged their villages, blocking every kind of logistic support.

He said the PSC had not even allowed an ice-seller or greengrocer to enter the area while they were also prevented from going out of the villages.

“As a result of which a pregnant woman died when we were stopped by police on way to Khanewal during a protest. All our crops were destroyed because we could not irrigate them.”

Mr Sial said he was facing 95 cases for demanding ownership rights while many women were also booked. The PSC had also disconnected electricity for a fortnight during summer.

He said the sitting chief had formed a committee headed by Punjab Agriculture Minister Arshad Khan Lodhi to resolve the issue. Other members included MPA Abdul Razzaq Khan Niazi, senior members of Punjab revenue board, forests and finance ministers, agriculture and finance secretaries, managing director and deputy managing director of PSC, Khanewal DCO and district nazim.

About eight meetings of the committee were held during the last one and a half years but to no avail, he added.

When contacted, district nazim Sardar Ahmed Yar Hiraj refused to comment while

MPA Abdul Razzaq said he could not attend the last two meetings.

Arshad Khan Lodhi told this correspondent that the committee had finalised its report after reviewing all aspects and submitted its suggestions to the chief minister.

Meanwhile, the chief minister on Monday visited Khanewal and said: “We are sympathetically considering the issue.”