KARACHI, May 20: Participants of a workshop on Tuesday called for the launching of a Hari (farmer) awareness and mobilization campaign. The call came at the end of a day-long workshop on Sindh Tenancy Act (STA) 1950 organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

The workshop demanded immediate steps to strengthen tenants’ rights and rid them of various forms of exploitation at the hands of their employers.

The participants said that exploitation could not stop until the executive-dominated tribunals set up under the Act were replaced with District Hari Courts and appellate tribunals — all headed by judicial officers.

Examining the latest amendments to the Act, they observed that the STA still lacked effective provisions to ensure enforcement of tenants’ and landlords’ duties. They were of the view that reducing tenants’ classes to a single category of ‘permanent tenant’ could take away the small benefits that the tenants-at-will enjoyed.

They regretted that no attention was being paid to the Haris who had been subjected to work as hired labour for decades and denied tenancy rights.

“The reintroduction of a provision that prohibits any restriction on Haris on account of their personal borrowings is not accompanied by a schedule of offences and effective penalties. The only penalty for the violating the law, even if it amounts to the holding a Hari in bondage, is merely a fine of Rs500,” they said.

The workshop noted that the rights of tenants were under threat also in areas other than Sindh.