LAHORE: Scores of peasant women on Wednesday demonstrated at Simla Pahari here to demand land, food and water rights for all.

The demonstration was organised jointly by the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee and Tameer-i-Nau Women Workers Organisation on the call of Asian Peoples Movement on Debts and Development.

The demonstrators demanded land rights for tenants, including women, saying the Okara peasants were victimised and imprisoned just for demanding land rights. They also sought clean drinking water for all villages and food security fearing food crisis to become the major problem for the people.

Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee general secretary Farooq Tariq said tackling problems underlying the food crisis needed that producers and consumers, including those in the global north, recognise that undemocratic and corporate-controlled food system is the main reason.

He said small farmers and rural social movements around the globe are still struggling to transform food and agriculture 10 years after the world food crisis sparked widespread famine, hunger, and a wave of social unrest.

Mr Tariq said over 80 per cent of farmers and peasants are deprived of clean water and proper sanitation system in the country.

He said from the global north to south, the right to food cannot be fully realised under the current industrial model of food production and distribution.

The demonstrators dispersed peacefully after an hour.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2017