Landing in trouble : Farmers deprived of harvest in name of ‘tax’

Farmers protest after MPA’s thugs seize their land and steal their crop.

RAJANPUR:

Dozens of farmers from Rajanpur protested outside the Lahore Press Club on Saturday, after several landlords stole their crops in the name recovering ‘taxes’.

Over 200 people protested against local authorities in the district saying that the landlords, police and district authorities had been siding with a local MPA Sher Ali Ghurchani in this regard.  “He just brought his men and started cutting our crops saying this was his way of collecting taxes,” said Javed Iqbal. “The police and district authorities completely ignored our plea even though these men beat us up and trespassed on our land,” he said.

The farmers said that they were extremely poor and had been allotted land from the government. The farmers even produced documentation in this regard. “We have proof that the government gave us this land to cultivate wheat but the politicians and landlords have tried to steal our crop,” said Imam Buksh.

The men blamed Rajanpur District Police Officer (DPO) Sohail Zafar Chatta for stealing the wheat and siding with Gorchani and his men. “We have documents proving the government gave us this land but he didn’t even take those into account,” said Buksh. The farmers said that they had approached the Rajanpur district coordination officer (DCO) in this regard. “He ordered immediate action against Ghurchani and his thugs after he saw our documents and the allotment report which read that the land had been allotted to the farmers,” Buksh said. Buksh said that the DCO had told the farmers to approach DPO Chattha to pursue the matter. “The DPO refused to comply with the DCO’s directives and he won’t take action against them because he has a stake in their profits,” he said.

The protesting farmers said that they also went to the resident police officer (RPO) Dera Ghazi Khan in this regard. “He also condemned the DPO for not taking any action.  The police and the landlords are threatening us with dire consequences if we pursue our case but we can’t drop this because it involves our livelihood,” said Peeran Data.

DPO Chattha said that he was willing to take action only on evidence. “The Mashori family has approached me and I directed SHO Sadar Fazilpur to support the applicants if they produced the relevant documents. They failed to produce documents to prove the land belongs to them. The moment they do and the Revenue Department confirms it I will take action,” he said.

An application against DPO Rajanpur Sohail Zafar Chatta, Pervez Iqbal Khan Gorchani, Sherdil Gorchani and 150 armed residents of Jahanpur, who attacked the farmers had been filed Article 7A-TA-392 by the RPO. The farmers have threatened suicide if the issue is not resolved and have said that they will continue their protests on Monday.

With additional reporting by Farhan Lashari

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2011.