LAHORE, Aug 25: The situation at the Okara military farms remained tense on Sunday as stand-off between the farmers and state forces continued and confusion deepened about the exact toll of the Rangers’ operation against tenants — police claimed possessing one body but the tenants counted eight, including two women, missing.

A Dawn team that visited the area on Sunday found heavy contingents of the Rangers and police besieging Chak 4/L where Saturday’s firing took place.

Villagers squarely blamed the Rangers for starting ‘unprovoked’ firing on Saturday. “Police was with the Rangers but it did more of a covering job behind the Rangers’ lines,” said a farmer in Chak 4/L.

The Rangers had started gathering around the village since morning and asked farmers to either pay their dues or vacate the lands. By 4pm, it called some of the villagers for talks which remained inconclusive. At 6pm, the Rangers told villagers to go back to their houses.

“When we were on our way back, the Rangers suddenly opened fire,” claimed one of the injured at the District Hospital, Okara. The allegation of unprovoked firing by the Rangers was repeated by almost every farmer at Chak 4/L who exonerated police. Their claim was rejected by Brig Ihsan Tiwana of the Rangers who, in turn, accused the villagers of resorting to shooting. He said the police were also involved in the operation “launched in self-defence.”

But the villagers said had it been crossfire, as claimed by Brig Tiwana, some of the Rangers or policemen might have also been injured. Their claim that they were fired upon when they were returning after talks failure carried weight because all the injured at the hospital had injuries on their backs.

Those lying injured at the DHO were handcuffed and tied to their beds. The police have formally arrested them on terrorism charges. Their arrests have deterred those villagers who also sustained bullet wounds during the Saturday shooting from going to hospital and risking arrest. They are staying back at their homes with bullets in their bodies and risking their lives instead of arrest. The Dawn team found many bullet-injured people at Chak 4/L who refused to go to hospitals.

M A Tareen, Okara police SSP, claimed that his force had only one body, that of Suleman Masih s/o Pitras Masih. “No one else has been critically injured or died.”

His claim was refuted out of hand by the villagers. “Eight people, including two women, are missing as far as we can count right now,” said one of leaders of the farmers. “We cannot count exact number that may be much higher,” he claimed, adding “since no one is allowed to go out or come in, it is difficult for us to ascertain exact number of people who came to Chalk 4/L and got lost in the mayhem. Once this stand-off ends and people go back to their houses, the number may rise.”

The Rangers and police removed all bodies and some of the critically injured, claimed another farmer from Chak 10/L. “Precisely for this reason, they are able to fudge death figures which are much higher than what they are claiming right now.”

Brig Tiwana, when confronted with these allegations, said that since “I was not present on the spot, I would not be able to comment with any certainty.”