Demonstration: Protest mounted over arrest of AMP workers

‘Government has not fulfilled promises made to the farmers’

LAHORE: The Anjuman-i-Muzareen Punjab (AMP) and the Awami Workers’ Party (AWP) staged a protest demonstration in front of Lahore Press Club on Thursday against the arrest of some AMP workers by Okara police.

AMP vice president Muhammad Ashraf said those protesting against the government for its illegal occupation of their land were being arrested and false cases were being registered against them.

Ashraf called on the government to fulfil promises made to farmers who he said had been farming the land for more than 100 years. He demanded that the government withdraw cases against them.

AWP general secretary Farooq Tariq criticised the authorities for arresting AMP leaders, including Malik Muhammad Saleem, Nadeem Ashraf and Ghulam Shabir Sajid.

He said the movement that had started during Pervez Musharraf’s rule had received support from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party. He said they had not fulfilled promises made to the farmers. He demanded that the government transfer DPO Faisal Rana and make sure that the farmers get their land back.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2016.