Pakistan’s first People’s Land Rights Tribunal held in Sindh

Pakistan’s first ever land rights tribunal in Hyderabad (organized by SCOPE, NPCP, and Oxfam GROW Campaign last 26 March 2014) exposes flaws land distribution cases and highlights the urgent need for land reforms and land rights for landless peasants to end poverty and food security in the country.

The Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment (SCOPE), National Peasants’ Coalition of Pakistan (NPCP), and Oxfam GROW Campaign organized the country’s first ever People’s Land Rights Tribunal in Sindh last 26 March in Hyderabad. The land rights tribunal aims to: bring to light flaws in land distribution cases and make recommendations; mobilize peasants including women, as well as land rights groups and activists in the country to participate in events that highlight land rights; and inform policy makers and media about burning land issues in the province. The main message was the urgent need for land reforms and land rights for landless peasants to end poverty and food insecurity in the country.

More than 500 participants attended – representing peasants, peasant leaders, land rights activists, lawyers, judges, politicians, civil society, and media.

The jury comprised Mr. Justice (R) Wajihuddin Ahmed, former senior judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan as head; Yousaf Laghari, Member of Pakistan Bar Council; Qazi Ali Athar, Environmental Law Attorney; and Ms. Najma Sadeque, senior journalist and land rights activist. Mr. Justice Ahmed himself said that the decision of the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Federal Shariat Court is totally irrelevant even to the Islamic Sharia, and that there are hopes that the Supreme Court will turn it down sooner or later. He criticized the Shariat Court Members for misleading the nation based on unrealistic narratives while allowing landlords to freely use “riba” which is unlawful and forbidden in Islam.

Recommendations

The panel recommended:

Follow up on presented cases to protect people’s land rights
Hold government authorities responsible for rendering a group of farmers in Sindh landless, depriving them of their land, food security, and livelihoods.

Its recommendations to the government include:

• Distribute more land among landless women peasants in Sindh.
• Resolve pending land disputes/irregularities in previous land distribution programs on priority basis, while compensating for the effectees.
• Revisit recent amendments in the Sindh Tenancy Act and introduce new amendments in favor of peasants through genuine consultation with peasant groups in Sindh.
• Do proper research, planning, and inter-departmental coordination before any future land distribution program so the beneficiaries get their land rights, concessions, and support.
• Forest land/cover shall not be allotted under the Land Grant Policy or any other policy or scheme because it is only 8% of total land (International Standard 25%); the rest of the 92% state land of Sindh Province belongs to the Revenue Department.
• Referring to land distribution in Sindh 1993: Where forestland is involved, land allotment should be cancelled and effectees should be appropriately compensated.
• That government authorities should be made legally and morally bound to grant land to any peasant in future with assurance of irrigated water.
• That land grab policy should be limited to landless peasants only.
• Develop a proper institutional setup and implementation mechanism for accountability and refrain from political interferences in the land distribution process.
• Implement 2008 land distribution policy in letter and spirit and make an agricultural commission to supervise land distribution initiatives
• In tenancy disputes, the power of revision should rest with District Judge – each District Judge should constitute one-person ‘Agricultural Commission’ for a District – and District Judge may also intervene at the interlocutory stage.
• Amendments in Tenancy Act by March 2013 shall be modified under the framework of the Sindh High Court directives.
• The law should be modernized – as the Amendments 2002 in Tenancy Act refers Rs.500 fine is equal to Rs. 250,000 now, which no longer relate to the ground reality – Committee on Tenancy Act to give public hearing.
• The proceedings of the Tribunal should be treated as a public hearing.

The event, described by Oxfam GB Associate Country Director Dr. Mazoor Ahmed Awan as a significant milestone for peasants’ land rights, likewise received broad coverage by newspapers, blogs, and media channels.

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Similarly, ANGOC held an Asian People’s Land Rights Tribunal last January 2014 in Quezon City, Philippines, also with Oxfam GROW Campaign, and with the University of the Philippines – Diliman,

The participants came up with the Diliman Declaration of the Asian People’s Land Rights Tribunal.