Rights to land: Remembering Kulyana

Anjuman Mazareen commemorates third anniversary of peasants’ resistance

OKARA:

Over 5,000 member and supporters of the Anjuman Mazareen Punjab (AMP) gathered at the Kulyana Estate in Okara on Friday to commemorate the third anniversary of the violence in which three peasants of the military farms lost their lives [1].

AMP Rinala Estate leader Nadeem Ashraf began by leading a prayer for the three peasants; Mohammed Amir, Baba Amir and Mohammad Abbas, who died on April 6, 2009, in what he called the military estate management action meant to displace peasants from their lands.

AMP Kulyana Estate leader Malik Saleem Jhakkar said, “Three years to this day, at 8pm, our comrades were martyred. We pay our tribute to them and their families.”

Jhakkar said, “They tried to displace us, but we decided to resist. This village (Chak 28-2B) remained under siege for three days. We resolved that to prove that this land belongs to the peasants of Kulyana.” He said the AMP struggle would continue till rights to land were granted to all the peasants.

Paying tribute to the peasants of Kulyana, Workers Party Pakistan (WPP) Information Secretary Aasim Sajjad Akhtar said, “Today, all mainstream political parties are questioning the military monopolies. But we must remember that the peasants of Okara were the first to raise their voice against military oppression in the Punjab.” He quoted from Habib Jalib Jaag meray Punjab (Wake, my Punjab!) and said he wanted to refresh Jalib’s message in people’s minds.

“As we remember the three martyrs in Kulyana, we must also pay our tribute to the countless martyrs in Balochistan,” he said.

Labour Party Pakistan Spokesperson Farooq Tariq, AMP General Secretary Mehr Abdul Sattar and WPP Central Committee member Javed Akhtar also addressed the gathering.

Pierre Rousset from the Fourth International, also known as the World Party of Socialist Revolution, and Tony IIltis from the Socialist Alliance joined the rally later.

Hashim Bin Rashid

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2012.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/360957/rights-to-land-remembering-kulyana/

 3^rd death anniversary of three tenants

AMP vows to continue struggle for lands’ ownership

From Our Correspondent

OKARA: The Anjuman-e-Mazareen Kulyana Estate observed the 3^rd death anniversary of three tenants at 28/2R village.

Baba Abdur Rahim, Abbas Ali and Muhammad Amir were shot dead by the elements allegedly backed by the government on April 6, 2009.

Speaking on the occasion, the tenants’ leaders said that they would continue their struggle for the ownership of the lands they had been tiling for centuries. They demanded that the fake cases registered against the tenants should be quashed. They said that 10 tenants had lost their lives for the cause during the last 11 years. They said the Punjab government had introduced a law, which benefited big landlords sitting in the parliament. AMKS president Saleem Jhakhar, Anjuman-e-Mazareen Punjab secretary general Mehr Abdus Sattar, AMP Renala Estate president Nadeem Ashraf, Bashir Sajid, Khushi Muhammad Dola, Noor Nabi, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Rai Faisal Mian Khan Kharal, former nazim Nasir Baloch, Farooq Tariq of Labour Party, Javed Akhtar and Asim Sajjad of the Pakistan Workers Party, Mian Abdul Qayyum of the Labour Qaumi Movement, Younis Rahu of the Sindh Hari Committee, social workers Pierre Roza [Rousset] from France and Tony [Iltis] from Australia addressed the tenants.

* The News, Saturday, April 07, 2012
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-101744-OKARA-City-News