Okara Stud Farm's

Okara Stud Farm's Okara Military Farms: ‘Ownership or Death’

The Okara Movement Despite the ban the event was held as per schedule. However, they were met with brutal repression.

PAKISTAN: Military farms in the 21st century, Orwellian
That the Pakistan Military has been extending its tentacles to envelop the State apparatus is no secret. However, a lesser-known aspect is the economic hegemony it is perpetuating over peasants in the shape of Military Farms Okara. Illegal land grabbing is now being used as a most profitable business for the force, which has anyway been guzzling a lion’s share of the national budget, depriving citizens their right to basic facilities like health and education. As a result, the struggle of the peasantry to own land they have been tilling for generations, which began in the British era, continues in the 21st century. This time it is the Pakistani State goaded by the Military that is denying citizens the right to own what is rightfully theirs.

17th April is the international day of Peasants to commemorate the day Anjuman Mazarain Punjab (AMP), a representative organization of landless farmers, had organized a convention to be attended by the farmers, civil society organizations and prominent human rights defender. The event was banned by the organization and section 144 PPC (assembly of more than 4 people is made illegal) was imposed in the area. On 16th April 2016 Mehar Abdul Sattar was taken into preventive custody on Saturday under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance. A tank was also deployed at the site of the event to intimidate the crows gathered; police also arrested many protestors on charges of terrorism. Thousands of peasant activists gathered in Okara and Dipalpur districts to demand an end to use of violent tactics by the state authorities and to seek the release of AMP’s general secretary Mehar Abdul Sattar. Following the arrest protestors took out a demonstration by blocking GT road, the main artery connecting different cities of Punjab province, demanding Sattar’s immediate release. Tanks and military men in hundreds are currently deployed on the GT Road trying to clear the road. A 17-year-old boy also died when a tear gas shell that was used to disperse the protestors hit him. To intimidate the protestors demanding release of Sattar, tanks were deployed and paraded in the village. Many protestors were arrested and charged under the Terrorism Act, Section 7, which proscribes anti State activity. Asma Jehangir, the former UN Special Rapporteur and former president of Pakistan Supreme Court, in a press conference, condemned State actions. She said, “The military, the federal and the local provincial government must clarify their position regarding the suppression of protesting peasants in Okara. What is the criteria being used to determine legitimate threat to national security and law and order?”

Roughly one million tenants work on farms owned by the government of Punjab, in more than 10 districts across the Province. While the provincial government owns the land, the farms are actually operated by different government agencies, including the Military, the Livestock Department, and the Punjab Seed Corporation. These agencies have no legal claim to the land. Some of them had, at one point or the other, been lessees of the provincial government, but presently, none of the agencies are owners or lessees. According to a subject expert, the actual owner of the land is the Punjab provincial government. The military pays a token fee to use the land, and two years ago, the Province refused an military request to transfer title to the property free of cost, according to a copy of a April 2001 letter from the Punjab Board of Revenue. In 1999, the government promised to allot lands to landless tenant farmers. However in 2000 the system was changed whereby the peasants were changed from tenants to contractual owners and were required to pay annual rent. This infuriated the farmers and they organized themselves into a representative organization Anjuman Mazarain Punjab (Tenants Association of Punjab) in 2004. Violence and arrests have occurred as tenants have refused to give up their struggle for land ownership. Since 2001, 11 farmers have lost their lives as a result of brutal force by the Military. The farmers aren’t even allowed the constitutional right to peaceful protest. The Military has time and against used brute force to silence the voice of the peasants. No media coverage of the peasants’ is allowed in mainstream media. Several journalists who have dared to defy the order have been arrested under terrorism charges. The mighty Military is behaving like an occupation force with these landless, peaceful, unarmed peasants. Peaceful protests are being responded to with gunshots. None of the policemen or Rangers have ever been killed or injured during this movement. The Military’s insatiable lust for power, and the spiteful, will to have their way, by hook or by crook, has deprived the poor landless farmers their means of sustenance. The fight for right of ownership is marred by bloodshed, violence and brutal use of torture. On 3 July 2014, the Rangers responded with indiscriminate firing on the farmers, and claimed two lives. According to a police official, the paramilitary force took away the bodies and a dozen farmers into custody. The farmers were refused the dead bodies unless they agreed they would not register a case with law enforcing agencies. The dead, along with the kidnapped farmers, were returned after three days. The illegal land holding in Okara is whimsically being justified through the National Action Plan; this is just one of the many incidents where the National Action Plan has been used to clamp down on peaceful protestors. Selective use of the Plan has reduced it to a national joke. Fortunately, the Judiciary has provided some reprieve. On 21 April 2016, the Lahore Anti Terrorist Court did not accept the public prosecutor’s argument seeking to charge the 5 protestors held under Anti Terrorist charges. The lawyer argued that demonstration is not an anti terrorist activity and no damage to any public sector building or personnel is been reported. Hearing the argument, the judge ordered the deletion of 7 ATA from the FIR, and asked the Okara police to present the accused in front of a local judge. In another victory to the cause, on 20 April 2016, the Lahore High Court quashed the frivolous cases registered against Mehr Abdul Sattar. The poor peasants of Okara are being forced to except Military dictates as they are being enmeshed in frivolous cases, according to Muhammad Hanif, a senior defense analyst. Every farmer faces charges in 50 to 100 cases. Military occupation of State land, and the demand of rent through brute force from the peasants, is not merely a blatant violation of the rule of law; it is a mockery of the institution of civil rule and democracy. Land grabbing by the Military is the biggest threat against the peasants, aggravating food insecurity, while violating human rights with impunity. The Okara Farms highlight State inability to assert its legitimacy as the rightful authority over the mighty Military expanding its economic interest through real estate and occupying prime property through force and intimidation. The Asian Human Right Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the brutal action of the military and urges to the government of Pakistan to immediately release all the arrested person and withdraw the frivolous anti-terrorism cases against them. Government must take punitive action against law enforcement agencies including the officials military who have exceeded their authority by brutally torturing the protestors. AHRC also condemn the denial of the right to peaceful assembly on the international day of the peasants to the farmers. The protestors were made target of state brutality to appease the military land grabbers.The show of arbitrary and brute force agsint the peaceful assembly shows how much the state is afraid of the rising working class of Pakistan. The AHRC supports the selfless and valiant struggle of the peasants for their right and salutes the brave soldiers for the ceaseless struggle against the military hegemony.

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مہر ستار اوکاڑہ کے نواحی گاؤں میں مزارعے کا بیٹا جس کے باپ دادا 100 برس سے پنجاب حکومت کے مزارعے، اوکاڑہ چھاؤنی کے ہمسائے میں زرخیز زمین، یہ سب مزارعے دو سے دس ایکڑ تک کے کاشتکار لیکن محنتی اتنے اور زمین اتنی اچھی کہ دو ایکڑ والا بھی بچے کو یونیورسٹی میں پڑھا سکے جیسا کہ مہر ستار کے باپ نے اسے پڑھایا۔

زرعی یونیورسٹی سے نیا نیا ایم اے کر کے واپس گھر لوٹا تو چھاؤنی کے بڑوں نے مزارعوں سے زمین چھڑوانے کا منصوبہ بنایا اور پہلے مرحلے میں کہا گیا کہ ان زمینوں کا ٹھیکہ دینا پڑے گا۔
یہی اعلانات پنجاب کے دوسرے ملٹری فارمز میں بھی کیے گئے۔ مہر ستار نے موٹرسائیکل دوڑا دوڑا کر مزارعوں کے نمائندوں کو اکٹھا کیا، انجمن مزارعین پاکستان کو متحرک کیا اور تحریک کو نعرہ دیا، ’یا مالکی یا موت‘۔ کہا کہ ہم سو سال سے یہ زمین کاشت کر رہے ہیں، ہمیں مالکانہ حقوق دو ورنہ ہم یہ زمین چھوڑیں گے نہ گھر چھوڑیں گے اور نہ ٹھیکہ دیں گے۔
وسطی پنجاب کے لیے مالکی یا موت کا نعرہ کچھ زیادہ ہی انقلابی تھا لیکن مزارعین کی مجبوری اور اس مجبوری کی وجہ سے بھڑکے ہوئے جذبات کا اندازہ اس وقت ہوا جب ایک میلی دھوتی اور صافے میں ملبوس 85 سالہ مزارعے نے بتایا کہ وہ جب بچہ تھا تو یہ زمین جنگل تھی اور اس نے اپنے باپ دادا کے ساتھ مل کر اپنے ہاتھوں سے اسے قابلِ کاشت بنایا تھا۔
’اب ایک میجر ریٹائر ہوتا ہے تو اسے پلاٹ مل جاتا ہے اور یہ مجھے میرے کچے گھر سے نکالنا چاہتے ہیں‘۔
مزارعوں کے یہ تیور دیکھنے کے بعد پرچے، ناکے، چھاپے شروع ہوگئے۔ کچھ گاؤں مسیحی مزارعوں کے تھے، سو تفرقہ ڈالنے کی کوشش ہوئی۔ تحریک آہستہ آہستہ دوسرے ملٹری فارمز تک بھی پھیل گئی۔
شروع شروع میں لگتا تھا کہ پاک فوج کی طاقت کے سامنے مزارعے کب تک کھڑے رہیں گے۔ تنازعے کے شروع میں ایک مقامی سیانے نے پیش گوئی کی کہ یہ مزارعوں کے مطالبات ایسے ہی ہیں جیسے ایک بچہ تھانے کے دروازے پر کھڑا ہو کر پتھراؤ کرے اور پھر انتظار کرے کہ اب کیا ہوتا ہے۔
اسی انتظار میں 17 برس گزر گئے۔ مہر ستار ایک دبلے پتلے نوجوان سے ایک فربہ مائل لیڈر بن گیا۔ موٹرسائیکل کی جگہ گاڑی آئی، بلدیاتی الیکشن میں کامیابیاں، اسمبلی کے الیکشن میں ایسا باعزت امیدوار مزارعے جس کے پیچھے تھے، 25 سے 30 ہزار ووٹ نکال لیتا تھا، اس لیے مقامی سیاست میں ڈیل ڈول بنتا گیا۔ باقی سیاستدانوں کی طرح ولیمے اور قلوں کے کھانے کھا کھا کر کافی صحتمند بھی ہوگیا۔
دوسری طرف ناکے لگتے رہے، چھاپے بھی پڑتے رہے، مقدمے بھی بنتے گئے لیکن جب بھی مہر ستار کی گرفتاری کی کوشش ہوتی تو سینکڑوں مزارعین، مرد اور عورتیں اکٹھے ہو جاتے۔
پنجاب میں اچھی زمینوں کا کال ہے۔ افسران کی اگلی نسلوں کو دیے جانے والے پلاٹوں اور مربعوں کے لیے یہ زمین بہت ضروری تھی۔ پھر بھی فوج 17 سال کی کوششوں کے باوجود مزارعوں سے قبضہ نہیں چھڑوا سکی۔
لیکن ادارے اوکاڑہ کے مقامی سیانوں سے زیادہ سیانے نکلے۔ گذشتہ برس انجمن مزارعین نے کسانوں کے عالمی دن کے موقع پر ایک اجتماع کا اعلان کیا۔ مقامی انتظامیہ نے اجازت نہیں دی اور پھر ایک مشترکہ آپریشن جس کی تیاری برسوں سے جاری تھی، کر کے مہر ستار اور اس کے ساتھیوں کو گرفتار کر لیا گیا۔
اب مزارعے کے بیٹے کو اس کی اوقات یاد دلوانے کا وقت تھا۔ چہرے پر نقاب، ہاتھوں میں ہتھکڑیاں، 35 سے زیادہ مقدمے اور ہمیں بتایا گیا کہ اس مزارعے کی اولاد کے القاعدہ سے تعلقات تھے، یہ را کا ایجنٹ تھا، فوجی تنصیبات پر حملے کرتا رہا۔ اس بندے کا ٹھکانہ کوئی عام جیل نہیں بلکہ ساہیوال کی وہ ہائی سکیورٹی جیل تھی جس میں ملک کے سب سے خطرناک دہشت گردوں کو رکھا جاتا ہے۔
گذشتہ برس اوکاڑہ کی ایک گلی میں ایک مزارعے نے مجھے روکا اور ادھر اُدھر دیکھ کر بولا کہ آپ کو ایک چیز دکھانی ہے۔
پھر اس نے مجھے اپنے موبائل فون پر مہر ستار کی تصویر دکھائی تو میں بالکل نہیں پہچان سکا۔ ہڈیوں کا ایک ڈھانچہ جس کے چہرے سے کچھ لمحوں کے لیے نقاب ہٹایا گیا تھا۔ پچکے ہوئے گال، ایسی تصویر جس پر یہ کیپشن لگانے کی بھی ضرورت نہیں کہ دیکھو اپنا حق مانگنے والوں کا یہ حشر کیا جائے گا۔
میں نے مزارعے سے کہا، بیٹا دعا کرو اور قانونی جنگ لڑو، خدا خیر کرے گا۔
قانونی جنگ اس ہفتے سپریم کورٹ میں پہنچی۔ ادارے کے سب سے بڑے جج نے حکم صادر فرمایا کہ مہر ستار کی بیڑیاں اتاری جائیں۔ ضمانت تو ابھی کوئی مانگ بھی نہیں رہا، عام جیل میں منتقلی اور خاندان سے ملاقات کی اجازت کے لیے قانونی جنگ جاری ہے۔
(تحریر - محمد حنیف بی بی سی)

14/05/2016
Stop killing Us !
14/05/2016

Stop killing Us !

Request To Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Shareef
14/05/2016

Request To Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Shareef

14/05/2016

Well Done Neo News !
you are the first to speak on our behalf .
Other Media groups are sleeping there ! (Y)

17 April 2k16 Stop Killing Us We Are Not The Terrorist's  . :'(
14/05/2016

17 April 2k16
Stop Killing Us We Are Not The Terrorist's . :'(

14/05/2016

An examination of the Okara movement, which served as a serious challenge to the oppressive power of the state, contributes to a more nuanced understanding of ordinary Pakistanis in their struggle for self-determination, emancipation and economic well-being. In so doing, it moves beyond clichéd understandings of one of the most populous countries in the world and challenges hegemonic representations of the Pakistani polity.

The Okara Movement

The Okara Military Farms are part of the canal colonies in Punjab province of today's Pakistan developed by the British Raj in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Agricultural and non-agricultural castes from eastern Punjab were encouraged to settle in these colonies and elites which had helped the British during and after the Indian Uprising of 1857 were rewarded with large tracts of land in these areas (Ali, 1988). Vast areas of land owned by the provincial Punjab government were also leased out in Okara and adjoining districts for use of the British military which included stud farming and horse breeding. These lands were used by the colonial state in its extensive patronage network to ensure the loyalty of the landed and military elites as an insurance against the Bolshevik threat from the north-west. At the time of Partition in 1947, these lands were automatically transferred to the Pakistani military. Although the British had lured the agricultural peasants to the canal colonies with the promise of allotting them land in return for tilling the soil, these promises never materialised and several generations of peasants and farmers worked on these lands under a sharecropping system (called hissa battai) whereby the farmer and his family kept half the produce, while the military took the other half (Akhtar, 2006).

In 2000, just as the military government of General Pervez Musharraf was consolidating its power and planning to pass a law for further corporatisation of agriculture, the military authorities in Okara decided to introduce a new contract system which stipulated that rent was to be paid in cash rather than direct division of farm produce. Moreover, the new contract contained provisions which severely limited use of natural resources by the farmers who depended upon local firewood and mud for building homes. It also contained provisions which would have made it extremely easy for military authorities to evict farmers and peasants on short notice.

Sensing an attempt by the authorities to legally evict them from them from the land they had lived on and tilled for generations, farmers formed the Anjuman-e-Mazareen-e-Punjab (AMP, Punjab Tenants Organisation) through which they hoped to persuade the military to give up its intentions of a new cropping agreement. The authorities, however, taken aback by the temerity of the farmers who dared to stand up to its might in the heartland of its traditional stronghold of Punjab, used paramilitary forces and the police to besiege eighteen villages in Okara district. The increasing incidences of torture, intimidation and harassment resulted in a spread of the movement to adjoining districts of Punjab and the AMP soon morphed into a kind of 'rural intifada' with a more militant organisation representing farmers, peasants and small landholders (Ali, 2003). As the military's excesses increased, the movement grew bigger and went up to over a million strong with cross-gender and cross-religious alliances challenging the hegemonic power of the Pakistan military in its own backyard. During the struggle it was discovered that the military were not the legal owners of the land and were only lessees of the land themselves on which they had not paid rent to the Punjab government since 1943! This knowledge, combined with the oppressive response of the military, led the AMP to adopt the powerful cry of 'Malukyat yaa maut!' ('Ownership or Death'). Through a tactic of civil disobedience and sheer people power, the AMP managed to fight the military off the land. Today a stalemate exists, with farmers and peasants refusing to pay any rent and the military continuing a low-level program of harassment even though formal democracy returned to Pakistan in 2008 (Toor, 2011). In an interview in 2009, the premier spokesperson of the military even conceded that it is willing to go back to the original sharecropping agreement.

The movement defied popular representations of Pakistan and was symbolic in several ways. Firstly, the movement saw peasants and farmers from across the religious divide come together. 40% of the AMP membership consisted of Christian peasants and farmers who have generally occupied the very lowest rung in the Punjab's caste hierarchy. Second, when the military's suppression increased and the farmers and peasants started getting illegally detained and tortured, it is the women who rose up in resistance and led march and protests with their thappas (sticks used to beat dirty clothes while washing) in the air. These women came to be known as the Thappa Force and resulted in a mass empowerment of women which led them to challenge not just the repressive apparatus of the state but also entrenched structures of patriarchy and religious-based discrimination. When Munawwar Bibi, the Punjab President of the AMP, was threatened by local landlords that they would not give her a Muslim burial because as a woman she was fighting alongside Christians, she sent them a reply saying:

'After my soul departs, the Christians will take me to their graveyard. Do you think I am fighting for a burial spot?'

Moreover, post-AMP mobilisation enrolment of girls in schools in the area has increased and women have refused to go back to the same position of subordination that they were in before they stepped into the battle with the state (Shirkat Gah Documentary, 2010).

Enduring colonial patterns of military recruitment and critical support by capitalist powers have resulted in the Punjab province being the center of the military's power base in Pakistan. Due to the peculiar nature of the Pakistani and Bangladeshi post-colonial state (with an under-developed native bourgeoisie and a top-down imposed colonial state), a civil-militarybureaucratic oligarchyhas come to dominate what Alavi has termed 'the overdeveloped state' (1972). Developed during the British Raj with the express intention of 'controlling the natives' and extracting resources for the mother country, the 'over-developed state' continues to retain the existence and pervading mechanisms of control and oppression developed during the era of formal colonialism. Moreover, Alavi posits that due to its grafted nature, it is the state itself which has become the site for contestation between competing interests. It is in this context of the hangover of colonial institutions and the AMP's refusal to seek redress in colonial-era institutions of justice and law that the Okara peasants' struggle signified an unprecedented challenge to hegemony of the state and its military-centered post-colonial elite.

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