Okara Cantonment
On October 29, 2008 the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited Okara Garrison. During his day long visit, Chief of Army Staff, addressed the officers of Okara Garrison. Earlier he was given a detailed briefing on operational and administrative matters of the Garrison by Major General Muhammad Nawaz, General Officer Commanding. The COAS said that Pakistan Army is the binding force that has contributed to national integration, harmony and stability of the country. He said that the valour, selflessness and determination demonstrated by our troops to counter terrorism are indeed commendable. They are writing new chapters of devotion and dedication to duty. He reiterated that national morale and confidence greatly depend on the defence capability of its Armed Forces and underlined the need for extensive training. On arrival at Okara, the Chief of Army Staff was received by Lieutenant General Sikandar Afzal, Corps Commander.
In 2004 approximately 68,000 acres of state-owned agricultural land in Punjab was the site of the most significant popular protest movement that Pakistan had witnessed in recent times. Spread out over ten districts, this land is tilled by the almost one million descendants of migrants settled in the area by the British Raj a century ago. Traditionally, farmers had been sharecroppers, handing over part of their produce as rent to the military, which acts as landlord through military-run farms. In 2000, the military unilaterally tried to change the rules, demanding that the farmers sign new rental contracts requiring them to pay rent in cash. The farmers refused. Since 2002, tenant farmers resisting efforts by the military to undercut their rights to the land - especially those from the movement's epicenter in the Okara district - were subjected to a campaign of killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, "forced divorces," and summary dismissals from employment.
The Okara Railway station is 128 miles from Multan, and 80 from Lahore. The Rewari-Firozpur Railway, opened in 1885, runs across the north-east of the District, passing through Sirsd town. There are no masonry roads in the District, except for a mile or two in and near Sirsd and Fazilka towns. A good wide unmetalled road enters the District at Narel from Hissdr, and runs by Sirsa, Dabwali, and Fazilka to Muazzam on the Sutlej, where there is a ferry, and so on to Okara, a station on the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway in Montgomery District.
Sixteen miles south of Okara stands ipa pur. j}ipalpur, on the old high bank of the Beas. In the time of Akbar and his Mughal successors, this was the chief town of the district, yielding a« revenue of over thirty-two lacs. It was also an important fortified stronghold under the Pathans. Tradition says that Dipalpur was founded by one Sri Chund, concerning whose family there are some remarkable legends current. The love adventures of the Rani Kokilan and Raja Hodi are still related by the Mirasis, or hereditary bards.
At the time of Timur's invasion Dipalpur was second only to Multan in size and importance, and was said to possess eighty-four towers, eighty-four mosques, and eighty-four wells. At present it is nearly deserted, having only one inhabited street, running between the two gates. In shape the town is a square of nearly 1,600 feet, with a projection of 500 feet square at the south-east quarter. To the south-west there is a high mound of ruins, connected with the town by a bridge of three arches, still standing. From its high and commanding position, General Cunningham is inclined to believe that popular tradition is right in affirming this hillock to be the ruins of a citadel. To the south and east there are also large mounds, doubtless the remains of suburbs. Including the fallen citadel and suburbs, Dipalpur occupies a space three- quarters of a mile in length by half a mile in breadth, or two and a-half miles in circuit. But in its flourishing days the town must have been much larger, as the fields to the east are strewn with bricks right up to the banks of the Khanwa canal. This extension beyond the fortified enceinte might also be inferred from the fact that the people of Dipalpur, on Timur's invasion, sought refuge in Bhatnair, in Rajputana, which they would not have done had their own city been defensible. Dipalpur was a favourite residence of Firoz Shah Tughlak from 1351-88. This emperor built a mosque outside the city, near the Khanwa canal, the ruins of which still exist; and he also dug a canal connecting the city with the river. Babar, after taking Lahore, marched upon and stormed Dipalpur in 1524, and in the history of his invasion it is mentioned as a large town, the sister city of Lahore. It was rebuilt by Mirza Abdurrahim about 1599. The complete decay of the town in modern times is probably to be attributed to the drying up of the old course of the Beas, when many of the inhabitants migrated to Haidarabad,
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