Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) has always condemned in strongest possible terms the decades-long atrocities, torture, arrests and false cases against the peasants of Okara military farms, said PPP Punjab senior leader Jahanara Wattoo.
She said the PPP wants the authorities to stop treating the peasants as conquered people and restore their genuine rights over the farms’ land.
“The PPP, at its root, has always been a party of peasants, the unprivileged and the working classes of the country,” Jahanara said.
During an exclusive interview with Pakistan Today, Jahanara, who is one of the most active women leaders of the party, said that the PPP, being the only party which demonstrates strength in all four provinces of Pakistan, has always been committed to equal opportunity for people regardless of class, region, religion or gender.
She said that PPP is committed to a society based on the rule of law and human dignity.
The PPP leader further said that the party believes in democracy, for which it has rendered matchless sacrifices, including two of its greatest leaders Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, who gave their lives to make Pakistan a truly free country.
She said that the PPP is proud of being the voice of the poor and the working and middle classes. Jahanara said that only PPP truly represents peasants and workers, which is why she visited the villages of military farms of Okara in Delman Gunj, Probamabad and Bashirabad to expresses solidarity with peasants who till the rich agricultural land in Okara district.
She said that the PPP, during its governments, had not only provided basic facilities like roads and electricity to the area, but had also raised voice against atrocities on these peasants. She said the party still stands with the peasants in their struggle for ownership rights of the land.
It is unfortunate that the peasants are facing atrocities from the state including torture, arrests and false cases, Jahanara added.
She said that former prime minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had been raising the issue of barbarities against the peasants to force them to cede their rights over the land and even the women and children were not spared the brutalities.
She said that the registration of cases against peasants besides other strong-arm tactics against the farmers is the worst kind of attack on the innocent farmers. She said the PPP will not tolerate such brutalities against fellow citizens.
“It is unbelievable that the peasants are not even allowed to raise voice for their right in Pakistan in the 21st century, as they are being subjected to torture and pushed behind bars if they do so,” she lamented.
