Press Release:

NO TO LAND GRAB!

Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT) and Roots for Equity along with Asian Peasant Coalition and other Asian organizations has celebrated the Global Day of the Landless under the theme “Heighten the struggle against global land grabbing! Resist Imperialist Plunder on Land and Resources!” This day marks the struggles of millions of farmers across the globe who have been evicted forcefully. A vast majority of these evicted farmers are those who lived in these lands for many generations.

To mark the Day of the Landless, PKMT held a protest in front of the Lahore Press Club on March 29, 2016. At the protest, Raja Mujeeb, National Coordinator, PKMT stated that thousands of farmers across Pakistan were facing forceful evictions faced because of the ongoing land grab prompted by the Pakistani government for promoting corporate agriculture, free trade zones and so called development projects. Farmers from many districts of Punjab participated in the protest including farmers from Rakh Azmat Wala, Rajanpur who face forcefully eviction from lands they have tilled for nearly a century. Tariq Mehmood, Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KPK) Provincial Coordinator, PKMT stated that the KPK government has issued notifications in Hattar, Haripur to evict farmers from 1,000 acres of land for the development of Hattar Economic Zone. These farmers had been tilling this land for many decades and the notification will result in at least a thousand families to be evicted forcefully. According to Hakim Gul, Sindh PKMT member, the Sindh government had also embarked on similar imperialist land grab policies –huge chunks of land is being allotted to foreign corporations for corporate agriculture and building energy power plants.

Zahoor Joya, Punjab Provincial Coordiantor PKMT stated that the Punjab government and their touts were forcefully evicting the farmers of Rakh Azmat Wala in Rajanpur. These farmers since March 2015 have not been allowed to sow any crops; it is tragic that instead of giving state land to the landless, the state is deliberately taking away land from settled farming communities. Kabir Khan a member of the Committee Rakh Azmat, representing the farmers from Rakh Azmat Wala, stated: “We have not been able to grow wheat, our food crop for two seasons and cash crops such as cotton and tobacco which are our only means of livelihood. At the same time, our livestock is also dying from hunger and thirst. All because the state is not allowing us to grow crops and fodder on our own lands.” Other Committee Rakh Azmat members elaborated that the British in the 1920s had promised them land entitlements to this land which their ancestors had converted to tillable land; false promises that were continued over the decades – even the current government officials had promised land entitlement in lieu of votes. But after their government was formed they have actually conspired to snatch 3581 acres of land from Rakh Azmat Wala community to give to foreign corporations and powerful political families.

Today, due to land grab, thousands of evicted farmers in Pakistan are facing loss of livelihood, hunger and misery. Land, instead of being provided to the landless is being handed over to corporations and foreign investments. PKMT and Committee Rakh Azmat demands that the Punjab Government should immediately put a stop to steps being taken for evicting the Rakh Azmat farmers. In addition, the act of land evictions from the entire country should be stopped and instead equitable land distribution should be carried out in order to attain food sovereignty and national sovereignty.