SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS « AGHAST » AT KILLINGS OF FARMERS IN OKARA, PAKISTAN

26 August 2002



The following statement was issued today by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir:

The Special Rapporteur is aghast at the planned and deliberate killings of three farmers by the Rangers in Okara, Pakistan. The farmers were tenants at army occupied farms and were being coerced by the Rangers to negotiate a lease for seven years with them or to vacate the farm.

The tenants had been living and tilling the farm for generations, almost for the last hundred years. In a similar situation in Khanaewal, Pakistan, the Rangers have been threatening the farmers with violence. Hundreds of families faced forced evacuations and were therefore protesting against the highhandedness of the authorities only to be further threatened, and in another previous occasion one person was killed by the rangers. The Special Rapporteur received reports that the electricity of the farms was disconnected to punish the tenants, but when the farmers refused to negotiate with the authorities under pressure, the Rangers deliberately opened fire on them. Women and children were amongst the crowd when fire was opened. The Special Rapporteur is also concerned as the act was malicious since the Government had publicly announced ownership rights to the landless farmers, who have been sitting on government lands for decades.

The events of the army-controlled lands were being closely followed by the Special Rapporteur and she regrets that the Rangers, who are directly controlled by the army, deliberately used indiscriminate force. She has also received credible reports that the injured peasants are chained to hospital beds and being charged with terrorism. The Special Rapporteur warns the international community that misuse of punishing marginalised sections of society in the name of terror will marginalise the prevailing war on terrorism itself. She is fearful for the lives of hundreds of peasants living on army-controlled lands who are being threatened and harassed by the Rangers in Pakistan. She calls upon the Government of Pakistan to hold an impartial and independent inquiry into the incident and to bring the perpetrators to justice. The Government is also urged to ensure that further violence is not carried out by the Rangers, and the peasants not harassed and intimidated through illegal means.




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