October 06

From the farms of Okara

Two conflicting narratives have been competing for supremacy over ownership of the land, where power play prevails. Uneasy calm prevails in the area. Villagers are apprehensive of talking to outsiders. Even ordinary mortals like journalists are not welcomed; and the authorities are evasive at best and hard-nosed at worst.

This is a description of Okara's military farms, where two conflicting narratives, two opposing viewpoints and two different styles of crisis management have been competing for supremacy since the instalment of the military regime in 1999. The side that has eventually won says that the law of the land is backing them. The losers, however, lost because the power was on the opposite pole.

"No one can defy a gun pointed to one's head," says Rajab Ali, aged 70, when asked as to why he signed with the farm management a contract, which people in his community regard as being a major assault on their rights. Like most people in his village, Chak 4/4L, he cultivates a small piece of land, consisting of 6.5 acres, which forms a part of the sprawling 22,000 acres military farms spread over almost a score of villages.

Military officials at the farms, without wanting to be named, deny using coercion to get the contract signed. "It is out of their free will that farmers are signing the contract and the fact that almost all of them have already done so only supports what I am saying," claims one official tasked with ensuring that the whole process of contract signing goes through without let or hindrance. Practically, the contract changes nothing. "The fact that we are demanding our share in cash rather than in kind, which was the practice in the past, does not make the contract radically different from the arrangement we previously had with the farmers," another senior official dealing with the day to day management of the farms affairs tells The News on Sunday.

But some farmers in their talk with TNS allege the contract to be, in fact, an attempt to ease their exit out of a land they have been cultivating for the last three generations. Why suddenly this new contract, when things were going pretty smooth under the old arrangement? "We see no reason for it except that it will need to be renewed, leaving us at the mercy of the farm authorities, which may not acknowledge our ancestral rights at the time of the renewal and throw us out of the land, which is our only source of income," says Abdul Jabbar, 24. His elder brother Abdul Sattar, a union council Nazim, is behind bars these days for what his supporters call a leadership role in the farmer's resistance.

Jabbar, acting as a spokesperson for a dozen people gathered in the drawing room of his house, tells TNS that the resistance took a radical turn when the authorities tried to use force to have their way.

What started as a local resistance against a minor administrative change gradually became a powerful and highly publicised campaign for ownership rights. Farmers now believe this shift has been a legitimate one.

"Due to the fact that we have been cultivating this land for almost a century, we have earned the right to own it," says Muhammad Sadiq, one of the oldest residents. His ancestors, he says, got settled in the area after the Great Plague that broke out at the start of the 20th Century. The whole area was uneven and uncultivable then. "It was our forefathers who turned it into arable farmland through sheer hard work."

The authorities do not accept this version of the past, though. Since at least 1880s, this land has been in military use for growing fodder for cavalry horses. But soon mechanisation resulted in the phasing out of animals decreasing fodder requirements by the day. "During World War I it was found out that troops were dying due to milk-born diseases. The military authorities, therefore, decided to set up their own dairy farms here," says an army personal involved in the management of the farms.

The opposing versions do not stop here. The farmers quote a Federal Land Commission judgement in their favour. The authorities, on the other hand, point out that the farmer's claims have been rejected even by the Supreme Court, the highest legal institution in the country.

The farmers, moreover, claim that the land originally belonged to the Punjab Government and the lease agreement, which had authorised the military to run its farms on it, has already expired. "Now that the military no longer holds the lease, the provincial government should either offer us the land on market prices as it is offering to those interested in corporate farming, or it should lease it to us for a period of 99 years," says Muhammad Nazir, 32, who accompanied TNS to a round of the area.

Here, too, the authorities disagree. First, they say that there is no truth in the argument that the 99-year lease that the military got in 1914 has expired. Second, the land was originally transferred to the military for defense purposes. "The fact that the GoP, under the Colonisation and Adaptation Act, acknowledged all previous terms of reference in this regard makes the provincial government ineligible to get it back," says the senior farms' manager.

The ones with vested interest are misleading the farmers, claim the authorities. The answer to the question as to why only in two out of about twenty villages in the area the resistance is so strong says it all. "In one village it is the political ambition of some people who have been trying to blow the whole issue out of proportion, while in the other it is the high percentage of Christian population, which has been getting added attention in the post-9/11 world," says a paramilitary personal assigned with the responsibility to maintain law and order in the area.

The farmers, however, complain his subordinates are doing much more than mere maintenance. "They put us under virtual siege for almost a month," says Muhammad Sharif, 68, a resident of Chak 10/4L, one of the two villages the authorities see as being the most radical. "Nobody was allowed in and out of the villages without their permission. Young men and school children were harassed to make their elders sign the contract. Our houses were trespassed. Even women were tortured. And when all these tactics failed, they fired upon us with all the force and weaponry at their disposal. Ironically, a number of cases have also been registered against us. Even now many of our people are detained facing murder and terrorism charges. Many of the leaders of our resistance have been forced into submission, while others who are still resisting have gone into hiding."

The authorities' firing, he alleges, has already caused the death of one young man of his village. Muhammad Sharif says that the situation is so bleak that they are forced to doubt their status as independent Pakistanis.

Suleman Masih, who died when the farmers and the authorities faced eyeball to eyeball on August 24th on the outskirts of Chak 4/4L, is now hailed as a martyr among the local farmers and a red flag flies over his grave in the Christian cemetery of his village.

But the authorities maintain their position that the martyr was gunned down by his own comrades. "He received bullet wounds in the back of the head," says a senior official of Pakistan Rangers, which according to him have been deployed in the area to protect vital installations and rare dairy equipment. "It means we did not kill him because we were deployed in front of him. Also the kind of pellets found in his head prove that he was shot with a 12-bore gun, which is not part of our weaponry."

The authorities accuse the villagers of taking it to the brink by detaining a police vehicle and personnel when they came to arrest the leaders of the resistance. The farmers, on the other hand, say the police humiliated their women during the raid and tried to arrest people with no charges against them. "We acted in self-defense," says Hamid, 25, who resides in the same village where Suleman Masih is buried.

The mood in Okara's villages is downbeat. "No one is so powerful as to be able to resist the power of the State," says Muhammad Sharif. "We feel insecure in front of the mighty authorities we are faced with. We have no option but to budge and then the authorities have been able to find traitors from among our ranks. So, for the time being we have given up, though we think we will face another crisis when we will fail to deposit the money mentioned in the contract. This failure, however, has nothing to do with defiance; it is because we cannot afford to pay."

Again, the authorities seem least convinced. "Most people in the area are on our side and are already depositing the money," the Rangers official tells TNS. "The so-called popular revolt is a ploy to devour funds the leaders of the resistance collected from poor farmers by making tall but unrealistic promises. Even in the two villages where some vestiges of resistance still exist, majority of the farmers have accepted the new system."

Those who support these vestiges of resistance seem to know all this. "Ownership rights or death remains our slogan," one farmers' leader tells TNS seeking anonymity. "Though for the time being we have been forced to compromise. President Pervez Musharraf has promised to grant State land to landless farmers on a number of occasions. Why should the authorities call us terrorists and traitors if we have been demanding that these promises must be implemented here in Okara as well?" he asks.

(By Muhammad Badar Alam, Daily News 06/10/02)

The roots of poverty

Our economic Czars have been bending over backwards to prove that poverty is due to low GDP growth. The truth is, poverty is not due to low growth. If the growth is positive, no matter how low, it will continue to increase the per capita income and help decrease poverty in the country, though the progress towards poverty-alleviation would be slow.

Pakistan is facing the scourge of poverty due to growing inequalities and concentration of resources in a few hands. Without addressing 'inequality', sustainable development will remain a dream. Poverty causes hardship and deprivation. Whereas, inequality causes a sense of grievance and injustice and promotes despair, exasperation and perversion in the social and political set-up. Terrorism is the hottest issue around the world but the big powers should understand that they cannot get rid of it without addressing the issue of inequality at the global level.

The growing inequality is provoking resentment amongst the Sindhis against the establishment, which is dominated by the Punjabis. If it were not addressed, it will strengthen and augment the schismatic movements in Sindh and we could face another 1971-like situation.

The above is the conclusion of a recently published report titled 'Growth, Inequality and Poverty', on Pakistan's social development for the year 2001, produced by the Social Policy and Development Center (SPDC), a Karachi-based policy institute.

SPDC's Acting Managing Director, Dr Kaiser Bengali says: "SPDC's report attempts to answer a number of pertinent questions that no other report does logically, credibly and cogently while also providing the correct data." According to Bengali, Pakistan started its development journey in 1947 with abysmally low levels of social and economic growth, but has since come a long way. The progress it has made over half a century is not unconvincing. There are, however, areas of concern and, of late, even disturbing ones. These relate to the increase in poverty and inequality.

"The report," says Bengali, "attempts to answer, for instance, to what extent has poverty increased; what are the factors that have caused poverty to grow; is it because of low growth in the 1990s; what are the reasons for the low growth; what has been the role of the post-1988 economic reform process; has the cost of reform been imposed disproportionately on the poor; was this cost avoidable; has the process worsened existing inequality across income groups and regions in the country; what is the extent and nature of growing inequality; what has been the impact of the failure of social policy; what effect is this failure likely to have on perpetuating and exacerbating inequality, etc."

Bengali claims that SPDC has not just identified the problems but also proposed a series of pro-poor measures on the macro-economic and fiscal fronts aimed at regenerating growth, reducing poverty, and promoting income as well as regional equity. The report, accordingly, is an attempt to present an independent and objective assessment of the process of unequal development and is intended to open a debate on this crucial aspect of the development process. He hoped that it will be of interest and value to policymakers, parliamentarians, academics, civil society activists, and people at large who share a concern for equitable social development in Pakistan.

"Increase in poverty," he goes on, "can primarily be attributed to a high degree of inequality in the distribution of income. Part of the growth in poverty can also be attributed to the failure of social policy, particularly in the provision of housing, education, health care and public health. While the upper income groups have been able to afford access to the market for these services, the poor have been effectively excluded on account of lack of affordability."

Political 'prophets', particularly the economic 'saints' of Pakistan are trying to prove that Pakistan's economy under General Musharraf's stewardship--particularly after his September 11 policies--has greatly improved and poverty has greatly reduced. When Dr Bengali was requested to comment on this claim, he scathed the military regime saying: "The army has proved to be the most loyal and obedient 'lackey' of the IFIs. Since a military dictator is always without public mandate, therefore, he is condemned to succumb to the pressure of foreign powers-be it the US or donor agencies. Land, plots and other perks that every Tom, Dick and Harry enjoyed in the Army is a major source of inequality in distribution that is strengthening secessionists elements. General Musharraf's incompetence and bad governance has pushed the country back into the era of 1964."

According to the figures of the report, 6.5% of the labour force in Pakistan is unemployed today, and 38% of the population subsists below the poverty line. Between 1999-2001 alone, 350,000 people have been rendered unemployed and 7m people have been pushed below the poverty line. Ironically, the percentage of population below the poverty line today is nearly the same as it was in 1964. As far as the poor are concerned, Pakistan has returned nearly where it was about 35 years ago. "This has happened," argues Bengali, "because neither benefits of development nor the costs of economic adjustments appear to have been distributed equitably. Rather, the entire burden of adjustment has been imposed on the poor!"

Elaborating on inequality on the regional level, Dr Bengali stated: "Regional inequality between provinces and within provinces has worsened. The analysis of deprivation level in 100 districts of the country shows that a North-South divide has emerged in the country, with the percentage decrease in the Deprivation Index being the highest in Punjab and the lowest in Balochistan. The rural economies of Punjab and NWFP have shown considerable dynamism." Furthermore, by contrast, rural Sindh has deteriorated and urban Sindh has stagnated. Sindh's development lag can also be seen from the fact that Hyderabad, the second least deprived district of Sindh, ranks 12th in terms of national ranking. Only 3% of Sindh's rural population classifies as low deprivation. While nearly two-thirds of Sindh's urban population classifies as low deprivation. This population is concentrated in Karachi, and a quarter of the rest of the urban population classifies as high deprivation.

When asked whether he was satisfied with the recently invented definition of `poverty-line', Dr Bengali opined: "Pakistan had no official figure of poverty until recently. Now it has a fixed one ie anyone whose monthly income is Rs650 will be considered poor. This is ridiculously low, but now we would be able to convince the government that poverty is increasing the moment people's earning will fall to Rs650 or further lower."

When asked whether Pakistan was an over-populated country, Dr Bengali commented: "Pakistan is not an over-populated country given the resource bench-mark. Growth in population could be a minor reason of poverty but not a major one. We can manage our population and within 15 years get rid of unemployment and poverty by distributing resources equitably."

(Daily News 06/10/02)

Katchi abadi dwellers protest against CDA (Islamabad)

The All-Pakistan Alliance of katchi abadis held a protest demonstration at 100 Quarters in Sector F- 6/2 on Tuesday.

The demonstration comprised 500 people, mostly women and children, and was held to protest the Capital Development Authority's (CDA) continuing defiance of the national policy on katchi abadis.

The entire area is apparently under threat from a proposed housing scheme. While, it is believed that flats will be made available to the residents of the kutcha abadi (informal settlements), prices of over Rs.3 million are well beyond the reach of the residents.

Local organizers pointed out that the CDA had previously committed to permanently allot the land to the katchi abadi residents under a scheme, whereby, the residents would pay Rs40,000 in 2-3 years and receive basic facilities.

This scheme was being implemented in other katchi abadis but in most cases, the CDA had not dealt with the situation properly.

A large number of genuine residents have being denied allotment. This follows the long and drawn out case of Muslim Colony residents being shifted to Alipur Farash, and the sudden demolition of Haq Bahu Colony in 1-11/4.

Abida Bashir, Chief Organizer of the Alliance said it was impossible to expect people to cooperate with the CDA when residents were being denied their right to shelter.

It was agreed that another protest would be held outside the CDA office in which residents of 100 Quarters, France Colony, G- 8/1 Hansa Colony, and others who were facing eviction would participate.

The participants agreed that raising their problems collectively would be more forceful. The protests would continue until such time that the CDA changed its attitude and interaction with residents of the kutcha abadis.

There was consensus that all katchi abadi dwellers should stand united during the current election campaign. The demonstrators expressed solidarity with Anjuman Mazarain Punjab, and thousands of landless tenants who were facing state-sponsored violence.
(Daily Dawn, 04/09/02

A demonstration was staged on Sunday by the women and children against the alleged suppression of landless tenants by the rangers at the military farms in Okara.

Some of the participants had come from Okara after the Saturday's clash between tenants and personnel of law enforcement agencies there.

The demonstration was arranged under the auspices of People's Rights Movement (PRM) and Anjuman Mazarain Punjab, on the call of All Pakistan Alliance of Kutcha Abadis.

The demonstrators condemned the attack on the tenants in Okara by the rangers, police and other military units, says a press release issued by the PRM. According to the press release, at least three people were killed in the clash. It added that 11 tenants sustained injuries and dozens were taken into custody by the police.

It said the president, the Punjab governor, and other officials had consistently promised to give ownership rights to the tenants, but the authorities, instead, made the tenants the target of violence.

The two organization demanded immediate withdrawal of police from the area and called for allowing the human right observers to visit the area.

Meanwhile, the All Pakistan Alliance of Katchi Abadis and other civic bodies announced that they would launch protest in support of landless tenants in Okara.

PPI ADDS: Mohammad Ikram Chaudhry, president of Lahore High Court Bar Association, Rawalpindi bench, has condemned the killing of five people, including a woman, when rangers and police opened indiscriminate fire on landless tenants in Okara on Saturday.

He asked the government to come out clean on the incident and punish those responsible. He said it was intriguing that the incident occurred on a day when a US newspaper published a list of over 100 armed forces men, each of whom allotted himself over 400 acres of prime agricultural land in Okara, Renala Khurd, Lahore, Sargodha, Khanewal and other districts of the Punjab and Sindh.
(Daily Dawn 25/08/02)

The villagers of Sri Saral and Pind Sangrial have warned the Capital Development Authority (CDA) that they will not allow it to resume development work in sector D-12 unless murder cases of two villagers are registered with Golra police station from their side.

Some villagers told Dawn on Sunday that they had filed a complaint with the Golra police station for registration of FIR of two villagers' murder against the administration. On the other hand, an FIR has already been filed against the villagers on the complaint of the Golra police station in charge.

The villagers said they had filed a petition with the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, for the registration of the FIR.

Talking about their meeting with the CDA chairman, the villagers said they had been refused further compensation.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry has taken action against five senior officials of the Islamabad administration, police and CDA in connection with Sri Saral incident.
According to sources, the action had been taken in the light of the report of the judicial inquiry conducted by the district and sessions judge, Islamabad.

Notices were served on the officials late Saturday night.

The names of the officials against whom action has been taken are additional deputy commissioner (general) Jodat Ayaz, assistant superintendent of police (Saddar) Mohammad Ashfaq, Golra police station SHO Ashraf Shah, CDA's director sanitation and enforcement Chaudhry Mohammad Ali and director lands Shaista Sohail.

The sources said out of five officials, four had been made officers on special duty (OSDs). However, the director, lands, had already been transferred before the directives of the ministry.

Following the removal of these officers from their offices, the additional charge of the CDA's director enforcement has been given to the director, municipal administration, Mustafain Kazmi and that of the director, sanitation, entrusted to the director, administration, Maj Baqar Khakwani (retired).

The director, lands, Shaista Sohail, has been replaced by the former deputy commissioner of Islamabad, Sultan Sikandar Raja.

Both the police officials, ASP (Saddar) and Golra SHO, have been sent to the police line. However, the charge of ADC (G) has so far not been given to any official.

(Daily Dawn, 25/08/02)

Forced Evictions
In the name of development

August 20

The All-Pakistan Alliance of Katchi Abadis staged a protest demonstration here in France Colony in sector F-7/4 on Monday 19 August 2002. The demonstration was held against the Capital Development Authority's (CDA) defiance to the National Policy on Katchi Abadis (low income settlements) announced by President Gen Musharraf in January 2001.

The demonstrators were mostly the women and children. Speaking on the occasion, the local organizer of the alliance, Saba Mubarak said though the France Colony residents were willing to shift their homes to some other location, the CDA was not providing them an alternative place. "This is against the decision of the federal cabinet that no evictions should take place without providing an alternative shelter to Kutcha Abadi residents."

Present on this occasion was an Italian journalist, Paola Babos, who condemned the evictions. She said "the UN special rapporteur for the right to adequate housing has recently sent a protest letter to the government of Pakistan against the forced evictions that took place in Karachi due to the proposed Lyari Expressway."

She was told by the representatives of the Alliance that the same UN official had also sent a letter to the government some two years ago demanding that evictions of Katchi Abadis should be halted. "But, unfortunately, the government paid no heed to it."

The chief organizer of the alliance asked the government to immediately stop the practice. She said the political parties should also make clear their stance on the issue. "If the evictions are not stopped, the Katchi Abadis in Islamabad will protest en masse," she warned.

She announced that a national convention of Katchi Abadis was going to be held next month where the issue of forced evictions would be highlighted.
(Daily The dawn 20/08/02)

 Affectees bring out rally against forced eviction

A large number of Lyari Expressway affectees on Monday 19th August brought out a rally from Hasan Aulia Village to Karachi Press Club as a protest against the forced eviction of the people from Lyari Riverbed.

The rally, held under the aegis of Action Committee for Civic Problems, reached the club via Garden Road, M A Jinnah Road, and Regal Chowk. A large number of children, residents of Lyari Riverbed and representatives of social welfare organisations attended the rally.

Maaroof Sultan, Vice-Chairperson of the Action Committee and other leaders criticised the city government and National Highway Authority for meting excesses to residents of the areas falling at the route of Lyari Expressway.

They urged that the authorities concerned should implement what was assured by the City Nazim in a meeting with the affectees and NGOs on May 15. Speakers appealed to the governor to take action against those officials who were demolishing the localities in the name of development work and ensure proper compensation and alternative land to those who were already dislocated from the site.

(Daily News 20/08/02)