By Chan Lv (People’s Daily Online) 03:13, September 10, 2015

Gwadar Port Authority has rented 923 hectare (2,300 acre) to China for developing the first special economic zone (SEZ) of the port, according to AFP.

Analysis shows that the establishment of the SEZ will set model for Pakistan economic development.

Gwadar Port is a deep-water port situated in Balochistan province of Pakistan. Upon the request of Pakistan, China aided the construction both financially and technically. The infrastructure construction started in March, 2002 and completed in February, 2015.

The port is a key transportation pivot in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

“I think the biggest benefit for Pakistan is economic interconnection,” says Masood Khan, previous Pakistan ambassador to China. According to him, in order to encourage domestic and foreign investment into SEZ, Pakistan government has granted SEZ with priority access to resources and preferential tax policies to investors.

Besides Gwadar Port cooperation, China and Pakistan also published a joint declaration on April 20th, where both parties are to impel the construction of economic corridor connecting Gwadar to China’s Xinjiang via roads and railways, as well as the collaboration on various energy power projects. Both parties believe the economic corridor will act as a crucial bridge for China’s One Belt, One Road policy.

http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0910/c90000-8947932.html

Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek joined thousands of farmers in the Asia Pacific Region to mark March 29 as the Day of the Landless. In Pakistan, the issue is of critical importance as more and more cases of land grab are being reported by farmers across the country.

Only recently, the government officials and the police has unlawfully tried to evict farmers from nearly 2000 acres of land in Rakh Azmat Wala, an area close to Jampur, Rajanpur.

In addition, thousands of farmers in Pakistan are forced to live by river banks spread from Punjab to Sindh. Each year, they face many hardships due to rains and floods which are increasing in intensity based on climate change.

The protest was marked by slogans such as “Jagirdari Murdabad” (Down with Feudalism) and “Sarmayadari Murdabad (Down with Capitalism)”. Farmers from Rajanpur were shouting “Goli Manzoor, Jail Manzoor, Zameen per Qabza Namanzoor (We Accept Bullets, We Accept Jail, But Will Not Accept Land Grab).

The farmers of Rakh Azmat Wala from Rajanpur District have been consistently agitating against the Punjab Government’s notification which is forcing farmers to evict the land they and their ancestors have tilled for nearly a 100 hundred years.

Farmers have till now refused all negotiation saying that if police comes to try and evict them they will take militant action. Currently there is a stay order which does not give the police the right to evict the Rakh Azmat Wala community which comprises more than 15,000 and nearly2750 acres of very fertile agricultural land. However, police forces have been threatening them with eviction on a daily basis. On March 24, farmers took out a huge protest rally blocking a major highway and then again on March 25 took out another protest rally in Jampur City. Their protests are marked by the presence of police force ready to take action.

The slogans raised by farmers included “Golee Manzoor, Jali Manzoor” meaning farmers are willing to face jail and even armed attacked by the police forces but not willing to give up their land.

March, 2015

The government of Punjab has given notifications to farmers to vacate more than 2700 acres of land in Mozae Azmat Wala, Tehsil Jampur, Rajanpur District. The land had been cleared and prepared for cultivation by settlers who came to this land in the 1920s. Today, more than 15,000 families live on this land; most of them have less than 2 acres of land. A majority have no land and only live here, working on other people’s land.

Azmat Wala farmers protesting against Government of Punjab’s attempt to grab their lands.

It is not clear why the government has asked these people to vacate the land though rumors of the land being given to foreigners is rife. According to the people of Azmat Wala, their ancestors had toiled to make the land productive, clearing small hills, stones and poisonous snakes and other reptiles. Today the land is extremely productive growing high quality of tobacco, as well as other crops such as wheat, sunflower, cotton among others.

Tobacco fields almost ready to be harvested by Azmat Wala farmers.

It is important to point out that since 2001 Pakistan has been ‘marketing’ state land for corporate agriculture. The Corporate Farming Ordinance 2001, and later the Pakistan Corporate Agriculture Farming strategy presented by the Zardari government have identified vast acres of government land which can be provided to foreign corporations for corporate agriculture. However, the case of Azmat Wala has demonstrated clearly that actually the so called state land is actually being made productive by farmers. Now, instead of giving the land to farmers, ensuring that they have decent livelihood, and shelter, the government is using police force to ensure that farmers leave the land they have made productive through sheer labor power, and no help from the government.

Dharna and strategizing by Azmat Wala farmers near their fields.

The farmers of Azmat Wala are determined to fight for their right to the land they have tilled over many decades and have initiated a determined struggle against government’s brutal tactics of trying to make them leave their land!

Basic homes of the Azmat Wala famers which face demolition by Punjab Police to provide land for Corporate Executives