TOBA TEK SINGH: A convention of landless peasants was held at Kalurkot, Bhakkar, organised jointly by the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, Anjuman Mazareen Punjab and Haqooq-i-Khalq Party.

The gathering brought together hundreds of peasants, including women and youth from across Bhakkar district and other parts of Punjab.

A press release said on Monday that the event saw strong participation from progressive political parties, including the Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party, labour and trade union allies such as the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation, and several other grassroots and social movements.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Junior, the grandson of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and a leader of the PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) from Sindh, also joined the gathering to extend solidarity with the struggle of landless farmers.

Participants strongly rejected the ongoing evictions of small farmers in the name of the Green Pakistan Initiative, military-backed agribusiness ventures, and the operations of companies such as Fongrow under the facilitation of the Special Investment Facilitation Council.

Speakers said these projects were pushing peasants off their ancestral lands, depriving them of livelihoods and dignity.

They demanded an immediate end to corporate farming and state-facilitated land grabs, full recognition and protection of peasants’ rights to land, water, seeds, forests, and all natural resources.

The gathering also demanded genuine land reforms that prioritise redistribution to landless peasants — not to corporate or military interests — along with food sovereignty and a popular agrarian reform rooted in agroecology, dignity, and autonomy.

Speakers said the struggle of the landless in Bhakkar, Okara, Khanewal, and across Punjab was a living example of resistance against dispossession and exploitation.

They said peasants were not just fighting for land; they were fighting for a vision of life where food, nature, and community are not commodified but cared for and shared.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2025