LAYYAH, July 27: Private moneylenders, also known as commission agents, are scaring the hell out of the poor by recovering much more amounts from them than they offer in the hour of the need.
In Punjab’s most backward district of Layyah is a small town by the name of Jaman Shah where poor labourers have found themselves in the clutches of private moneylenders like Muhammad Husain Juma and Company, Iftikhar Ahmad and Company and Gulsher and Company.
Taking advantage of the farmers’ helplessness, these agents lend small amounts of money to the poor against high interest rates. What happens is that more the borrower pays in return the less seems the advantage as the principal amount remains there to be paid.
As the farmers fail to pay the required monthly instalments, the agents grab their valuables or else issue threatening calls.
In some cases, the poor are compelled to sell all their belongings, including property, to pay off the loan. They end up losing all.
Information gleaned by Dawn reveals that the agents force the poor to sign blank cheques which more often than not bounce which means a case against the poor borrower under section 489-F.
This was confirmed by the record available at the Saddar, city and Kot Sultan police stations where 90 per cent of the cases filed under section 489-F were registered on the complaints of the three commission agents.
Muhammad Shafi Chandiya, a pickup driver, told Dawn that he got a loan of Rs12,000 from Gulsher and company against three signed blank cheques as surety, demanded by the agent in question, a pro-note in his favour and registration book of the pickup.
He said when he refused to pay after shelling out Rs39,000, Gulsher filled an amount of Rs145,000 on a cheque which bounced and got registered a case against him, besides selling his pickup.
Police arrested Shafi who was released on bail after nine months. He said a local court was still trying him in the case.
Sources said commission agent Juma took into his custody the body of Nathu Hudwaar, of Mauza Khokharwala, to be returned to his relatives only after payment of the amount he owed. Nathu the borrower had died after obtaining loan.
They said Nathu’s relatives sold their livestock and valuables at abominably low prices to pay up Rs100,000 to the agent.
Faiz Muhammad of Mauza Naurassi got a Rs22,000 loan from the Juma & Co and gave a pro-note of Rs35,000 as surety.
He said he paid 30 bags of wheat weighing 100kg each, but his original loan still stands.
Munawar Husain of Chak 160-TDA told Dawn that he needed a loan of Rs40,000 and had so far paid back Rs39,000, but Gulsher got registered a case of fraud of Rs200,000 against him. Kot Sultan police arrested Munawar who was later released on bail after two months.
Faqeer Husain said he was lent Rs20,000, but the moneylender filed a case against him of a Rs200,000 fraud. He said the local influentials settled the matter after he paid Rs22,000 against the registered case.
Abdul Ghafoor, a peon in the education department, said he got some loan and later joined the agents as their worker. After witnessing the ordeal of the poor, he refused to work for the moneylenders.
But a fraud case was registered against him and he was set on bail after four months.
He alleged that the “mafia is trying to register another case of fraud against him.”
Qari Abdul Ghafoor Salfi, a local social worker, told this correspondent that the moneylending mafia had “terrorised the poor.”
Ghulam Fareed Mirani, a former MNA, said the situation was not limited to Jaman Shah, but prevailed in all the rural areas of south Punjab.