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  Okara Military Farms


Pakistan army has often being alleged of organizing itself against its own people. Pakistan Army, still suffering from the allegations of cruel unjust in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Allegations of violation of human rights in Karachi during the operation in 90s, creating chaos by operating in Wana and crushing the poor farmers movement in Okara.
   
 

Human Rights Watch has recently published a report on Pakistan Army's torture cells in Okara. Accusing Pakistan Army of murdering and torturing farmers to either leave the lands they are working on since centuries or to pay the rent. The new rent polices demand cash instead of crops, which the farmers fear as an attempt to push them out of the land. Human rights watch describes the issue as:

"The problems in the affected districts result from a straightforward disagreement. Traditionally, farmers have been sharecroppers, handing over part of their produce as rent to the military, which acts as landlord through military-run farms. In 2000, the military unilaterally tried to change the rules, demanding that the farmers sign new rental contracts requiring them to pay rent in cash. The farmers have refused, fearing that cash rents would, when times were lean, place them at risk of being evicted from land that their families have lived on for generations. Instead, as the situation has grown more polarized, they have begun demanding outright ownership of the land. "

"Based on over one hundred interviews with tenant farmers, their children, and some of the alleged perpetrators in Okara district, this report details the abuses committed by Pakistani security forces in the course of the dispute. Particularly egregious violations include claims of widespread torture including that of children. Human Rights Watch interviewed thirty children, among many more, who claimed to have been beaten and tortured by paramilitary forces in the course of the dispute."

Pakistan Army is Pakistan's largest Land Lord. The country is suffering badly under the severe, cruel and highly unjust feudalism by Pakistan Army since the fall of Dhaka. Pakistan army owns lands in both rural and urban Pakistan, these lands are a symbol of privileged status enjoyed by the military. Human rights watch describes Pakistan Army's response as:

"The army's motivation thus certainly goes beyond the finances of the particular farmlands in question. The army likely fears the potential knock-on effects of a compromise in Okara for its land operations nationwide and the damage that any compromise might do to its status as Pakistan's most powerful and feared institution."

Finally, in a military and landlord dominated country, army leaders may fear that, if the army succumbs to the will of tenant farmers, the consequences will be far-reaching and unpredictable. The stakes are indeed high in Okara and the other Punjab districts. The fact that all major political parties in Pakistan have major landlords in senior party positions and much of each party's funding comes from landlord interests explain why support for the AMP from Pakistan's traditional political parties has remained limited.19 The case of the elected representative from Okara is illustrative. In national elections held in October 2002, Okara elected Rao Sikandar Iqbal, a local influential aligned with the Benazir Bhutto-led opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), to the National Assembly. During the campaign, Iqbal pledged his support to the tenant farmers' cause and was supported by the AMP. However, upon election, Iqbal defected from the PPP, forming his own breakaway faction titled PPP (Patriots). Iqbal was appointed federal minister for defense as reward for his defection to the Musharraf camp. Technically, as defense minister, Rao Sikandar Iqbal now holds jurisdiction over the army - the institution involved in a bitter and violent confrontation with his constituents. The minister's office failed to respond to repeated requests by Human Rights Watch for a meeting."

Unfortunately such issues do not get coverage they deserve on local media. The Jung group, The Dawn, Geo and ARY ignore these reports like there is nothing wrong any where. The irresponsible and often accused to be biased and corrupt Pakistani Media has no courage to publish investigative reports on such important issues. Geo television airs views of Major-General Shaukat Sultan, the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR, the public relations wing of the Pakistan Army):

"The needs of the Army will be decided by the Army itself, and/or the government will decide this. Nobody has the right to say what the Army can do with 5,000 acres or 17,000 acres. The needs of the Army will be determined by the Army itself."

And the host of that show (Captial talk) Mr Hamid Mir doesn't ask Major General that if he is trying to say that Pakistan Army is the "King" of Islamic republic of Pakistan hence beyond the reach of any justice? Pakistan spends a huge part of revenues in defense, no civil institution in Pakistan has access to the accounts and audits of Pakistan Army. The bungalows, facilities, retirement funds and the long list of privileges that the officers and men of Pakistan Army enjoy is unquestionable. In a country where average daily income is $2 per day, in a country where each day some one commits suicide due to poverty, in a country with nuclear bombs, I think this attitude is an extreme danger faced by People of Pakistan. I fear what if some day Pakistan Army decides to fix the disobedient Pakistanis by nuking them?

I would like to copy statements of some farmers here:

We were produced before Major Tahir Malik. He asked why we had not made the contract payments. We answered that we had no money. They took us to the torture cell and Jallad ["tormentor"] Munir started thrashing us with a leather whip. He made us all strip naked and whipped us till we bled. Major Tahir Malik would personally supervise the whippings, abuse us, laugh at us, and punch us... We were produced before officers again in the morning. They would insist that we pay the contract money. Upon our refusal, it would begin again. -Interview with Mohammad Iqbal, Okara, October 23, 2003

They snatched our milk and our bicycles. Gomi, the informer, took away the milk and bicycles. They blindfolded us and took us to Rangers Headquarters. As soon as we got there, they started beating us with sticks. After a while we even stopped crying or screaming... There were sixteen [adult] farmers [already present when] we arrived there. [We saw them being] beaten badly with a flat leather whip by Munir "Jallad" and Inspector Aashiq Ali in the presence of Major Tahir Malik. The farmers were bleeding and crying in pain. Some were weeping out of fear and sitting with their heads bowed. -Interview with Abid Ali, age ten, Okara, October 24, 2003

Further Reading:

Human Rights watch Report: "Soiled Hands: The Pakistan Army's Repression of the Punjab Farmers' Movement"

   
   

   

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