Tenants seek PPP support for ownership rights

LAHORE, March 28: Scores of tenants and civil society representatives staged a sit-in on Monday at Charing Cross in protest at Punjab government's dillydallying over awarding ownership rights to the tenants cultivating state land in various districts of the province. Under the banner of the Anjuman Mazareen Punjab, tenants — led by PPP MPA Amna Buttar and Christian leaders Napoleon Qayyum and Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra — condemned the Punjab government for halt a long march by tenants in Khanewal and Okara districts. "The police thrashed the tenants in Okara and Khanewal districts that also caused death of one of the tenants on Monday," Mr Qayyum told Dawn. He alleged that secret agencies (special branch and CID) of the Punjab police also pressured the protesters in Khanewal, Okara and Lahore in connection with ending the march. He demanded that the PPP government press the Punjab government to award ownership rights to the poor tenants. Other speakers said the tenants had been cultivating the land for a long time but the government was avoiding giving them ownership rights despite several promises it made with them last year.