LAHORE: The participants in a webinar have criticised the state for, what they called, misusing the Land Acquisition Act 1894, saying there is need to change or abolish the law because it is used only against the poor segments of the country.

The webinar, ‘Dispossession for Development and Land Struggles in Contemporary Pakistan,’ was first of a series launched by LUMS Mahboobul Haq Research Centre (MHRC) on Thursday for introducing social justice and change and to commemorate the life of veteran journalist and rights activist I.A. Rehman.

The speakers included architect Arif Hasan, political activist Tooba Syed, Abira Ashfaq and lawyer Fahad Malik. Architect Hala Bashir Malik moderated both sessions.

In the first session, Mr Hasan said I.A. Rehman had started journalism in the 1950s and also worked as a film reporter, becoming an expert on global cinema. He said Rehman Sahib was involved in politics and had played very active role against dictator Ayub Khan while he and his colleague also started a daily newspaper Azad, which probed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s victory and suggested to the rulers to hand over power to him. It had also highlighted atrocities against the Bengalis in East Pakistan.

Arif Hasan said Rehman Sahib was arrested and targeted for his struggle while other people of his generation became collaborators of the state. He said Rehman Sahib’s struggle for human rights had left behind a grand legacy.

In the second session, Mr Fahad Mailk said the state was misusing the Land Acquisition Act-1894 because Article 24 of the constitution would allow the state to acquire private property in the name of public purpose/interest; however, the constitution did not define what would be the public purpose or interest. He said the Act was introduced during the colonial rule, asking why it continued existing after the Independence.

Mr Malik said the governments under the law first would finalise a project and PC-I and later the state would approach any person whose land would be used for the project and the law gave him only 15 days period to raise objections to the project. He said Ravi river project was ready to build a new city on 124,000 acre land but the state was not providing any information about it as if it was a national secret.

Tooba said Islamabad was built on villages and it was not an empty land. She said six years ago, the CDA had erased 66 katchi abadis and only 11 of them were declared legal.

Ms Ashfaq said the Karachi Bachao Tehreek was launched against forced demolition on Orangi and Gujjar nullahs. The government was following anti-poor people policies and around 80,000 people had been evicted from these areas.

Mr Hasan termed the Land Acquisition Act a big problem and demanded that it should have been abolished as the India had done or its procedures should be redefined.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2021