Punjab's peasant movement decide not to pay anymore
Farooq Tariq (General Secretary, Labour Party Pakistan)
Tufail Cheema was second in line who was killed by the state forces in year
2002 at Probanbad military farms in Depalpur area of Punjab. He was a local
leader of Anjaman Mozareen Punjab (Tenants Association of Punjab, the peasant
organisation fighting against the military farms administration for land
rights).
At the time, We went from Lahore to speak to a memorial meeting only a day
after the killing. He was killed because he had refused to pay the share of
crop or the contract amount to the military farms administration. This was a
call by the AMP leadership not to pay and raise the slogan of death or
ownership (Malki Yaa Mout). There were several hundreds attending the meeting.
But the mood was a bit off.
During the following four years, many tenants started to pay the share and
contract amount to the military administration apart from a handful of AMP
leaders. These leaders were frequently harassed, arrested and were subject to
death threats.
In May 2006, the military farm administration got two leaders of AMP beaten up
again by the police who had refused to hand over the crops to the
administration. This sparked a new wave of rebellion.
Labour Party Pakistan was contacted by them for a demonstration in Lahore.
That was organised in middle of May 2006 but not much press coverage. Although
the main leadership of AMP including the two elected mayors of union councils
in Okara and Renalakhurd, Mehr Abdul Sattar and Nadeem Asharaf participated in
Lahore demonstration.
We contacted Asma Jehangir, chairperson Human Rights Commission of Pakistan,
and invited her to a public meeting to be held in Proban Abad on 5th June
2006. She agreed but later apologised as she has to appear in a supreme court
case on the same day . We decided to go-ahead in any case for the demo and no
cancellation. The poster were printed and fly-posted in all the different
villages around the area.
This brought a massive reaction from the local police. Here are some details
of police harassment to stop the public meeting.
1- all the tents shops in Depalpur, Pakpattan and Okara were asked not to
supply any tents and chairs for the meeting.
2- asked the local leadership of AMP to cancel the public meeting or face the
consquences
3- asked me not attend the meeting as cheif guest and that i will be stopped
forcefully to enter the area
4- asked all the hotels not supply food stuff for the participants of the
public meeting
5- several police camps established around the area where the meeting was
going to take place
6- main raods leading to the area were closed
Despite all these suppressive tactics, the public meeting on 5th June was a
massive success. we were able to reach the venue after we changed out rout to
the area and took a long route.
The peasants brought their charpaies, over 150 of them for seating and all the
villages were asked to provide any piece of curtain for the covering of the
public meeting place. It was around 44 digree at the time. So a very colourful
scene of the public meeting.
over 2000 peasants were able to make their way despite all the police tactices
to stop them. Several tractor trolleys were stopped anyhow and people sent
back. Over 300 peasant women present in the public meeting were armed with
chappaas (the wooden stick that they use to clean the dirty cloths, some time
they had used that to clean the dirty police in Okara district),
46 motor cycles with two or three on each of them, were able to reach the
public meeting from Okara after they drove over 46 kilometres in the fields to
avoid the arrests. They included Mehr Abdull Satar, the elected union council
mayor of Okara military farms.
The public meeting went on for over 5 hours and there was not a single person
who left his place and was not ready to listen to speeches from over a dozen
speakers. The meeting endorsed the decision of the seven villages in the area,
not to pay any share or contract amount anymore to the military farms
administration. The peasant rebellion has spread in a more militant form.
There are over 13000 acre of land with seven villages in this area that make
up the military farms.
Another round of conflict has started, now in the same area where Tufail
Cheema was killed by the police and rangers four years before and the movement
had died down.
We all gave our support to the peasant movement and told the gathering that we
are here to stay and will fight back.
June 2006
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