HYDERABAD: Participants of a consultation on Saturday have called for bringing Sindh Tenancy Act (STA) in conformity with present conditions and said Sindh government should do away with pre-requisite for offering ‘Hari Card’ to those having 16 acres of land. The card should be given to genuine farm workers, they said.

The consultation titled ‘Challenges faced by landless tenants and farmers in Sindh’ was organised by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) which was chaired by commission’s chairperson, Asad Iqbal Butt, in a local hotel.

Senior lawyer Yusuf Leghari called for looking at issues beyond STA considering present conditions of farm sector and haris. STA has become too old now and many governments have already amended it. STA should be read and analysed in the light of present day conditions. All officers are appointed by waderas and sardars therefore victims’ grievances remained unaddressed. He said if the name ‘haris’ was entered in Khasra form-6, a vital document, then landlords could not deprive him/her of the land. An inspection should be there to check whether hari’s name was entered in survey number. Haris of Thar got their names entered in this form.

Asad Iqbal Butt said if haris were declared ‘labourers’ then their cases should be decided by labour courts or haris courts should be set up so that they could find legal remedy. Registration of all haris is essential on a parity basis. Hari cards were being given by government to those having 16 acres land. STA was too old and it should be brought in conformity with existing conditions., he said.

Hari rights activist and National Party leader, Comrade Taj Mari traced history of STA and Hari Movement dating back from 1927. Hyder Bux Jatoi-led Sindh Hari Committee had spearheaded a protest sit-in and Sindh Assembly adopted bills for STA’s enactment on April 4, 1950. After several past amendments, STA’s Section 17 was amended in 2013, to let peasants bear 100pc expenses.

Awami Workers Party leader Bukhshal Thallu said haris were now working as labourers sans protection. When Supreme Court was moved for land reforms, all parliamentary parties, capitalists, waderas and those portraying as hari rights organisations got united against it. Elected governments brought anti-hari amendments to the STA.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024