MULTAN, July 18: The Multan bench of Lahore High Court on Thursday refrained the Khanewal district police officer and his subordinates from taking unlawful action against the tenants of Peerowal farms of the Punjab Seed Corporation.
The judge issued orders on a writ petition filed by the Khanewal Anjuman Mazareen against the police siege of Peerowal farms and subsequent suspension of amenities like irrigation water, electricity and telephone service.
The petition was filed against the Punjab government through the chief secretary, PSO managing director, PSC Peerowal farms director, Khanewal district Nazim and the DPO.
The petitioners alleged that respondents were committing ‘contempt of court’ as court had already granted status-quo to the tenants against any government action and the official move to change their status to lessees.
The judge directed the police to abide by the law and do not hamper the peaceful utilization of the farm lands at Peerowal.
Tenants of Peerowal farms, spread on an area of over 7,000 acres, have launched a struggle along with tenants of 20 other state-managed agriculture farms in the Punjab to get proprietary rights over the lands of their respective tenancies.
As part of their campaign, the Peerowal tenants this year have sown cotton on their own, but PSC authorities are vying to destroy their standing crop. For this, they got orders from the provincial government on June 7 last to uproot the tenants-grown cotton.
The government however could not implement these orders due to the unprecedented unity shown by the tenants. On its part, the government closed the supply of irrigation water to the channels that irrigate Peerowal farms on June 18. The water channels were re-opened in the first week of July for three days only when the high court granted status-quo to the tenants. But, later on the water channels were again closed.
Talking to Dawn on Thursday, tenants’ leader Dr Christopher John asserted that if police and irrigation department authorities did not abide by court orders the tenants would restore supply of the irrigation water on their own.
The police siege and suspension of water supply had paralyzed the life completely at Peerowal farms, he added.