MULTAN, Oct 27: Anjuman Mazareen Punjab has reiterated its pledge to continue the struggle for tenants’s right to own land on 21 state-run military and agricultural farms in the Punjab.

Speaking at a gathering of the tenants of Peerowal Farms of Punjab Seed Corporation in Khanewal on Sunday, AMP senior vice-president Dr Christopher John vowed that the carrot-and-stick policy of the government would not compel them to give up their principled stand.

He said the Peerowal tenants had told the Punjab governor that they would not surrender their tenancy status by signing lease contracts. The AMP leader said the governor had nothing to offer except promises.

AMP secretary-general Younis Iqbal said the tenants of Okara Military farms, too, had unanimously rejected the lease contracts sponsored by the farm management to deprive them of their tenancy rights.

He said the Lahore High Court would start hearing a petition against the lease agreements forced on some tenants on Okara military farms from Nov 4.

The tenants’ rally demanded registration of cases against those responsible for the murder of six tenants across the Punjab during the last nine months of their struggle for ownership rights.

They also demanded release of AMP activists including Anwar Javed Dogar, who, they claimed, had been detained on frivolous charges.

Meanwhile, an NGO has distributed relief goods among the tenants and their families in seven villages in the wake of the siege they endured from June to August.