HYDERABAD, March 17: Leaders of political parties, social society and farmers organisations on Saturday rejected the Sindh Tenancy Act 1950 as a whole and sought to make it more farmer-friendly after bringing about major amendments to the law.

They said while speaking at a consultative seminar organised by the South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAPP) at the press club that the amendments should be drafted by retired judges, jurists, journalists and farmers.

The SAPP’s provincial coordinator Syed Zulfiqar Shah said that the seminar reflected the opinion of 67 per cent population of the country who were tillers of the land and factory workers.

He urged the farmers and workers to forge unity among their ranks and jointly struggle for their legal and human rights as the state organisations had totally ignored their problems.

The Sindh Development Society leader Ghaffar Malik endorsed SAPP leader’s opinion and said that after amendments were suggested to the act the farmers would have to launch a consistent struggle to have them approved.

Veteran leftist leader Jam Saqi opposed the idea of corporate farming and said if it was introduced it would deprived farmers of their right to cultivate the land.

Leading lawyer Ayaz Latif Palijo called the Tenancy Act 1950 a bogus law and urged introduction of a new law to protect the farmers’ rights. The mukhtiarkars who had been vested with powers under this act were thriving on landlords’ income and were not expected to dispense justice to the poor farmers. He, therefore, demanded separate courts for the farmers.

Shahab Mughal said that latest technology had dealt a deadly blow to the farmers and demanded that they should be treated as labourers and all the labour laws should be made applicable to them.

Haider Malookani stressed that the farmers could not get justice without drastic changes in the tenancy act in a country where the chief justice of apex court and the fourth pillar of the state were humiliated.

Ghulam Mustafa Baloch urged the farmers to emulate Shaheed Sufi Shah Inayat who had declared that the land belonged to it tillers.

Prof Aijaz Qureshi, Prof Mushtaq Mirani and Ilyas Khokhar also spoke on the occasion.