(See table below for details for list of evictions in Karachi)

List 1:  Details of the some recent Evictions cases

Cumulative cases from 1992 -to 96                        12,000 Units

Total No. of Houses bulldozed since 1992              16,470 Units

(Note: These are only the reported cases. There may be many others, which remain unreported)

URC has also been documenting incidents of fire in Katchi Abadis (informal settlements) since 1995.

In the last 6 months (Jan 2001 - June 2001) 30 huts were gutted. This incident was occured in Dawood Goth Saeedabad on 16 March 2001.

Since January ’97, a total number of 1,139 huts were gutted in different settlements. These incidents have rendered more than 9,185 people homeless. six minor children and a 45 year old man were also burnt alive in these incidents. (See list in appendix # 2).

Two main causes are identified for these incidents; one natural and the other planned. The planned incidents are those, in which the land mafia is involved. To draw attention towards fire incidents in Karachi, URC circulates reports containing facts and figures on the issue to the press, NGOs and government agencies.

URC documents the fire incidents of Katachi Abadis and try to establish an understanding on the reasons of these incidents. See list below for details;

List 2: Huts gutted in Karachi (some recent cases):

Total No. of the huts gutted Jan ’97 - June 2001              1,139 huts

Cumulative cases from November 95 - December 96         2,486 huts

Total No. of the huts gutted since November 95               3,625 huts

Terror in Okara

Punjab, Pakistan

By Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy

On May 11, 2003, Amer Ali, a 60-year old peasant of Chak 4-L of Okara district made his last good-neighbourly visit to the adjoining village, Chak 5-L. As the old man hobbled out of his hosts' house to see what was going on, he was cut down by a hail of bullets.

Amir Ali was the seventh to have died in recent months in the bitter struggle between the peasants of Okara and the Rangers, now into its third year. Coincidentally, just hours earlier, a group of journalists from the Urdu press and concerned citizens, including myself, had set out from Islamabad on a fact-finding mission.

As I stood by the blood-spattered earth next to a wall pock-marked with bullets, grim-faced villagers indicated to me the field from where they said the Rangers had ceaselessly machine-gunned the village for over an hour.

A tour around Chak 5-L followed. It is a fairly typical village with visible signs of poverty - mud covered huts, open drains, bare-footed children, and scrawny chickens. Branches of trees felled in the shooting lay all around. Many houses, as well as the village mosque, had bricks broken or chipped by the impact of heavy bullets. They are there for the next visitors to village 5-L to see - but only if they can successfully navigate through the siege imposed on the 70 odd villages in the area.

Roadblocks are everywhere, manned by soldiers with automatic weapons as well the lighter-armed police. Four-wheelers with mounted machine guns prowl menacingly on the dirt roads next to the irrigation canals, raising huge clouds of dust as they move between villages. For all practical purposes, the nearly one million people of Okara are under military occupation.

Why are they doing this? I asked one villager from the crowd that was now swarming around me. "They want to put us on contract to make us pay rent to them, take away our rights to the land, and then throw us out", he replied, "but this land is ours because our forefathers have tilled it and we have nowhere else to go."

And then, as if the floodgates had broken, villagers came to show us wounds on their bodies, some now turning septic. One, who led me aside, broke down sobbing and told a tale that cannot be related here for reasons of propriety. A visit to the neighbouring village, Chak 4-L, showed the situation there to be virtually identical. Broken limbs, hollow faces, sunken eyes, and marks of beatings were in abundant evidence there too.

Appalled by what we had seen, we felt it absolutely necessary to see the point of view of those in authority and therefore drove to the Okara Rangers headquarters, at whose entrance we were stopped by heavily armed guards. After some hesitation they conveyed by telephone our request to meet Colonel Saleem, the head of the Rangers in Okara.

Permission was eventually granted and we drove into the huge complex, spread over many acres, containing residences and offices. The beautifully manicured lawns and flower-beds, gravelled paths, and ornate structures from colonial times stood in stark contrast with the brick and mud hovels we had just left behind.

We were received by all who matter in the Okara administration. Apart from Colonel Saleem, we met Major Tahir Malik who looks after the military aspects and is greatly feared by the villagers, the senior superintendent of police, and the district commissioner. Each had a closely similar point of view to the other. They spoke good English, the meeting was civil and polite, and we were offered tea and sandwiches. But there was to be no meeting of minds.

In response to my question of who killed Amir Ali, the administration officials said that he had been caught in the crossfire between Sindhis and Machis, two groups at loggerheads over some local dispute. However, my offer to transport Amir Ali's decaying corpse, which at the moment was lying in his relatives house in Chak 5-L, to Islamabad for a post-mortem was summarily dismissed.

And where did the torture marks on the bodies of so many villagers come from, of which we now have photographic proof? The answer given was that these had been self-inflicted with the intent of defaming the authorities, or else they were wounds inflicted by one group on the other.

Finding the answers to be less than satisfactory, we sought permission to return to Chak 5-L. After some hesitation this was granted. Negotiating through the roadblocks required further delays, as each confirmed by radio whether we were indeed permitted to visit the village.

In my conversations with the soldiers manning the positions, I learned that they too were disturbed about what they were being asked to do to the Okara villagers but had no real choice. On eventually reaching the village, we conveyed to the villagers what the authorities claimed as the cause of Amir Ali's death. They laughed bitterly and said that there were no Sindhis or Machis in Chak 5-L, much less a fight between them.

The siege of Okara is a blot on Pakistan's collective conscience and must be lifted immediately and unconditionally. Further, the incidents of torture and beatings that have occurred there over the last three years should be immediately investigated at the highest level and the guilty punished.

We cannot plausibly demand that India end the military occupation of Kashmir while employing similar brutal means and tactics at home. Pakistan cannot bear the shock of nearly a million of its own people being dispossessed of the lands they have tilled for over a century. Peasants have no political agenda - land is about livelihood and physical survival. To evict them would be cruel and unjust, and certainly was not what Pakistan was made for. President Musharraf must move quickly to see that this outrage is no more.

The writer teaches physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.

(D-7, 22/05/03)

Army holds farmers responsible: 'Trouble' at Okara military farms

By Baqir Sajjad Syed

RAWALPINDI, May 31: Pakistan Army here on Saturday held the "miscreants" of Anjuman-e-Mazarain Punjab (AMP) responsible for turbulence at the Okara Military Farms , and said there was massive distortion of facts about the on-ground situation in the troubled farms.

This was stated by Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi and Director General RV&FC Maj-Gen Mehmood, while briefing a group of journalists about the Okara situation.

Maj-Gen Mehmood told the briefing that 11 people, including some national leaders, have been identified to be patronising this movement for the sake of their vested interest. These people, he said, had now gained support of some of the non-government organizations.

He said the problem had been basically caused by the external element in the area, whereas the locals were largely peaceful and cooperative.

He said the people provoking disturbance were non-lessees and hence had got nothing to do with the situation.

He said AMP & Co., were exploiting the simple people through their strategy of "fear and hope". The leaders, he said, were instilling in the minds of the lessees the fear of eviction and loss of rights under the Punjab Tenancy Act.

On the other hand, they are giving false hopes about getting them proprietary rights as a consequence of this movement, he added.

He said the AMP had collected around Rs8.6 million from the people, part of which was used for litigation and the rest is being utilized for running the protest movement. He said mercenaries were hired by the "miscreants" to create law and order situation and keep the situation alive.

The RV&FC boss asserted that the government planned no eviction from the farms except on disciplinary grounds.

Both Gen Rashid Qureshi and Gen Mehmood reiterated the government's offer of a dialogue to solve the problem.

DEATHS: Gen Mehmood said so far there had been only 4 deaths in incidents related to the Okara Military Farms movement. None of which, he said, had been killed due to firing by the law enforcing agencies. One of the deceased, he said, had been hired for Rs150 to take part in the protest, and had been killed due to firing by the mob. He said all the four deceased were not the lessees of the military farms. They rejected reports that a dozen and a half people had been killed, as claimed by the activists running the campaign.

CONTRACT SYSTEM: The RV&FC director said decreasing share of government, lack of interest of the lessees, lower productivity and corruption both amongst the farmers and the civilian staff of the farms' management forced the army to switch from the defunct Battai system to one of contract.

He said 1,350 acres of land had been sublet by the lessees, due to loss of their interest.

However, he contended, the new system had begun to pay dividends as those shifting to contract system had started to work with a fresh resolve. Prior to this, he said, there were only 3 tubewell, but now there are 398 Peter Engine pumps on the farms, which was indicative of improvement in the situation.

ACCEPTABILITY: Initially 324 lessees, out of a total 1,323, accepted the contract system. The remaining, after being misled by the AMP leaders, refused to accept the new system, he said.

Nevertheless, he said, the lessees were making payments and so far over Rs14.5 million had been recovered as against an expected receipt of Rs49.7 million from the Okara and Renala farms.

The situation at Renala farms, he said, was fully peaceful. Multan farms, he said, had also satisfactorily shifted to the new system.

He said several apparently non-cooperating lessees had held under-cover meetings with the farms' management and assured them of their cooperation. They, he said, had informed us that the AMP activists were forcing the people not to cooperate, and were threatening them with dire consequences.

LEGAL POSITION: The lessees, Gen Mehmood said, themselves first approached the lower courts from where their case was dismissed, and then they moved the Lahore High Court. He quoted the LHC to have observed in its judgment: "The petitioners are in possession of the property without any lawful basis. If they want to stay on land, they have to adhere to the revised policy of the ministry of defence and pay rent in cash."

SOCIAL ACTION PROGRAMME: He said on the instructions of President Musharraf the lease rates approved by the board had been slashed by 1/3rd and are 66 per cent lesser than the existing market rates.

Besides, he said, under the SAP for the military farms tenants, "there are plans" to lease out the land to the sitting lessees; enhance the lease period to 3-5 years as against one year under the defunct Battai system; steps for qualitatively improving the lives of the farmers and giving proprietary rights for a 10 marlas plot for construction of residential unit for the farmers.

(D-2, 01/06/03)

Catch 22 at Okara

Law enforcing agencies are adamant to implement the rental policy,

while tenants seem unswerving in securing proprietary rights of these controversial lands. '

Malki ya maut' has become the catchword of the tenants now

By Amjad Bhatti

Three-year-long resistance by tenants in Okara took a new twist recently with the active participation of various political parties, legal community and, of course, with a daring articulation of the issue in question by national and international media. On the other hand, the principal parties involved in the conflict are strategising their fight and counter-fight in the light of daily happenings.

Okara Military Farm covers 17,013 acres of land, which was transferred by the Government of Punjab to the Ministry of Defense on lease for 20 years on 9-8-1913 against an annual rent of Rs15,000. The land is still under military possession. Earlier the tenants were cultivating this land on batai system in which the interests of tenants are ensured through Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887.

Through batai system tenant and landlord operates on an equal share basis. Contrarily, if a tenant cultivates land under any contract system, he can be ejected from land at any time at the will of the landlord.

In June 2000 military authorities announced a shift in policy and replaced the earlier batai system with thaika (land lease and cash rent system), which was considered to be a disempowering drive against the tenants.

"General Qamaruz Zaman Chatha introduced Thaika system and he asked tenants to pay the rent or leave the land," said Khadim Hussain a resident of Chak 5/L. Since then tenants have been resisting this policy. Seven tenants have been reportedly killed, dozens injured and hundreds, including women and children, have been jailed.

The recent murder (on 11th May) of an elderly Mohammad Amir, known as Amir Baba of Chak 5/L of Okara Military Farm, has escalated the conflict. State authorities, in response, have tightened their grip on tenants by employing various tactics. The tenants hold Rangers responsible for the killing of Mohammad Amir, while Rangers say it was a result of cross-firing between Machi and Sindhi families. Local police station has, however, registered a case under Section 302 against tenant leaders.

The official version on these killings seems a bit shaky. No one in the area is ready to subscribe to the story narrated by farm administration. The versions expressed by various law enforcing agencies varies, and at times they appear to be self-defeating and contradictory.

Farm authorities have engineered novel methods to demoralise resisting tenants. These include: setting-up pickets all around; cutting the power and food supply to the villages; picking up school-going children of the tenants and keeping them in custody to pressurise their parents; arresting relatives of tenants living in other cities; curtailing the village-to-village mobility of tenants; depriving the injured and ailing of medical treatment and so on.

Meanwhile, as observed by this scribe during the last two visits to the area, local politicians are reluctant to support tenants since they have their stakes in the power structure, which is dominated by the military establishment. The local establishment is trying to use local political elite and media in favour of their own interests; thus the point of view of tenants largely remains unsupported and unarticulated by local power centres and opinion leaders.

A petition in the Lahore High Court was disposed of by directing tenants to contact local police station to get their version recorded in an already registered FIR against them. This disappointed the tenants who moved out to mobilise political parties--mainly opposition parties--and bar associations to secure a support base for their movement. The ARD remained positive to their demands and some press statements were issued in favour of tenants' struggle last week.

The Punjab Bar Council and Lahore High Court Bar Association, apart from some local bars, have already tabled requisitions in favour of tenants' struggle. Against this backdrop the tenants' movement seems to have moved towards a new direction with the possibility of forming a broader support base for itself. This seems to have disturbed the authorities.

A recent visit to OMF by a diverse delegation comprised of lawyers, media, peoples' rights activists and members of provincial assembly. It was observed that the local authorities had a vigilant security system to stop outsiders' entry to the centres of struggle. Even the local MPA was not allowed to cross the checkpost outside Chack 4-5/L.

The tone of the OMF authorities has changed. Only two weeks ago in-charge of the OMF was telling the visitors, in a persuasive tone, that there was no problem on the farm. That everything had been settled between tenants and the farm administration and about Rs30m had been remitted by the tenants against the account of thaika. He indicated that there were only three troubled villages, which were resisting the change, because the leadership of Anjuman Muzareen Punjab (AMP) was based in these villages.

The external supporters of tenants' movement are labeled as 'anti-state' miscreants by the farm administration and law enforcing agencies. In a recent example, Sarwar Mujahid a local correspondent of an Urdu daily was arrested under terrorist act. Locals say that he was arrested on the orders of the head of Rangers on filing a story of tenants' sit-in, in which he exposed farm administration.

"I am being victimised for reporting the truth," Sarwar told this scribe in Okara Sadar Police Station. Tenants, however, ask that if official claim that 90% tenants have agreed to the rental policy is true, then why the whole area is being kept under siege?

The law enforcing agencies are adamant to implement the rental policy, while tenants seem unswerving in securing proprietary rights of these controversial lands. 'Malki ya maut' (ownership or death) has become the catchword of tenants now. This slogan is not to be looked at as a mere radical rhetoric; instead, it has its deep-seated connection with psycho-social behavioural composition emanating out of utter insecurity and trauma of imminent displacement feared by the tenants in case they surrender to official direction of agreeing to the rental system. They will be evicted from land they are tiling now, they fear.