Tenants action body formed

LAHORE: A joint meeting of different tenants groups working in various public sector agricultural farms in Punjab has demanded the authorities and judiciary to take notice of gross human rights violations against the tenants in Okara.

The meeting held at the office of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Wednesday, chaired by its director IA Rahman, and attended by leaders of social and political organisations, condemned that dozens of fake cases were registered against the leaders of the tenants, and their majority were arrested on fake charges of heinous crimes like dacoities. The meeting reiterated that the struggle for ownership rights of the tenants would continue on legal, moral, social and other levels at all costs. The meeting condemned the continuous harassment of tenant leaders and demanded that all fake cases against them should be withdrawn.

The meeting expressed satisfaction that the administration of Okara farms had recently admitted that they were not the real owners of the farm land under their control and its real owners was the Punjab government. The meeting demanded the Punjab government constitute a committee comprising representatives of tenants’ association Punjab, Revenue Department and other stakeholders to reach a decision for resolving this long-standing problem. The meeting demanded that fake cases against the arrested tenant leaders Mehr Abdul Sattar, Younas Iqbal and Abdul Ghafoor should be withdrawn and they should be immediately released. The meeting praised the efforts by National Commission for Human Rights for resolving this issue and decided that noted advocate Salman Akram Raja would represent tenants on the next hearing in the court. The meeting also constituted 14-member Tenants Action Committee comprising representatives of civil society, tenants and social groups to represent the tenants at different forums.