LAHORE, Oct 20: The Anjuman Mazareen Punjab (AMP) alleges that military officers are about to launch an operation to get possession of as many as 2,250 acre agriculture land being cultivated by tenants for a long time in Renala Khurd town of Okara district.

“These chunks of land were allotted to military officers during Pervez Musharraf's regime under “Ghori-Paal Scheme” by ignoring rights of the tenants who actually populated the same many years ago. We appeal to the government to stop the officials from getting possession of land back from tenants, besides cancelling their allotments under the scheme,” AMP chairman Mr Liaquat Ali said in a news conference held at the Lahore Press Club on Wednesday. Flanked by secretary-general Khushi Muhammad and other office-bearers, he said scores of tenants were cultivating 7,723 acre land owned by the Remount Department of Pakistan Army in Renala Khurd.

He said tenants had also been cultivating 12,013 acres owned by the military farms in Okara, 5,186 acres of Bengali dairy farm in Lahore and 9,183 acres of Army Welfare Trust in Pakpattan district for a long time.

“In Musharraf's regime the officials tried hard to retrieve the land from tenants, but the AMP activists foiled their bids. We have lost 14 lives during a campaign launched under the slogan “Ownership or Death” but we didn't leave possession of the land,” he said.

He demanded that the government give ownership of the state or military-owned land to tenants not only in Renala Khurd and Okara but also in Lahore, Khanewal, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakpattan, Depalpur and other areas of the province. — Staff Reporter