Saqib Mushtaq
LODHRAN

Dozens of victims of loan sharks including women of Ada Parmat area have expressed their grievances as well as anger against the usurers who have allegedly connived with the officials of government departments and bribe them for continuation of their black business.
Ada Parmat has become the largest centre of usury business in the area where dozens of people fall victim to interest mafia. The mafia pays millions of rupees to different departments as bribe every month. As a result, the officials do not create hindrance in the way of moneylenders.
A victim namely Waqas Khan told the media that he borrowed Rs500,000 from Khalid and Sadiq on interest and he had made the repayment of Rs40,000 rupees but he still owed Rs500,000 to them. He further said that he had lost his 2 cars and 80,000 kilogramme of wheat in the payment of interest on loans.
Shabbir Baloch, another victim, said that he took a loan of Rs300,000 from Afzal for the wedding of his daughter and he had made the repayment of Rs1.8 million but the principle amount was still outstanding. Usman said that he borrowed Rs200,000 from Ghazi Khan on interest, and he had made repayment of Rs1.2 million but the principle amount of loan is still outstanding. He mortgaged his land for loan, and the lenders threaten him to kill if he does not make the interest payment.
Another person disclosed that he had bought a tractor from Alam Khan whose total price was Rs800,000 and he paid Rs400,000 as down payment and until now he had paid 416,000 in interest. Babar Ramzan said that he took a loan of Rs50,000 on interest from Moeen Khan and Nazar Khan and made the repayment of Rs200,000. However, on the day of his daughter’s marriage, Moeen and Nazar came and started threatening him that if he did not pay the amount, they will not let his daughter’s Baraat depart, he said. Thus, he said, he had to give them the jewellery of his daughter. Shamim Bibi said that she had got Rs100,000 loan from Usman Khan from which she had paid Rs400,000 in interest but still original amount of Rs100,000 is payable. Zafar, a resident of Ada Parmat near Lodhran, who used to be a tractor mechanic is now owns the property worth millions of rupees; he does the business of stolen tractors and cars. It was also told that often police from other districts arrested him but he always come back within a day by giving bribe to the police, local people said.
Tractors and cars stolen from Multan, Muzaffargarh,, Vehari and Bait areas are brought to a big mansion in Parmat where their chassis numbers are changed and vehicles are tampered and later sold on interest for 3 to 4 year lease. . They do not give away original documents of these vehicles to the lessees.
People who get vehicles do not ask for the documents because they have to pay the remaining amount and these tractors and cars are used in the rural areas where no one checks them. According to the locals, the usurers belong to Afghanistan and tribal areas. They had started the business of stolen vehicles at “Ada Parmat”. They hired guards who have unlicensed weapons and fake identity cards.
The victims demanded that DPO Asad Sarfraz should take action against the mafia. When contacted the DPO told the media that if the victims come forward and file complaints against these people, strict action will be taken against these people.