LAHORE: Pledging to even lay their lives to resist forced evictions from state-owned agricultural farms, tenants have announced nationwide protests at over 100 locations on April 17, marking the International Day of Peasants Struggle.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Pakistan Kisan Rabita Committee President Tariq Mahmood, General Secretary Riffat Maqsood, and Anjuman Mazareen Punjab President Mehr Ghulam Abbas Sial declared that tenant farmers would resist state-led dispossession at all costs, while demanding a minimum support price of Rs4,000 per maund for wheat.

Both the PKRC and Anjuman Mazareen announced a nationwide mobilisation against forced evictions, corporate farming, and the dismantling of public agricultural systems.

Tenant farmers at Katora Farm, Hasilpur — who have cultivated these lands for generations, even prior to the creation of Pakistan — have been issued eviction notices requiring them to vacate the lands within 30 days. These lands are now being targeted for transfer to corporations and powerful institutions under the banner of “corporate farming” and the Green Pakistan Initiative.

PKRC emphasised that this was not an isolated incident, but part of a systematic process of agrarian restructuring, where land and resources were being taken from peasants and handed over to corporate actors in the name of “modernisation” and “efficiency.”

PKRC said that peasant communities across Okara, Khanewal, Jhang, Bhakkar, Jahanian, Multan, Arifwala, Hasilpur, and beyond have long struggled for land rights. The latest eviction notices issued by the Bahawalpur administration have been met with firm and united resistance, with farmers declaring they will not leave their land under any circumstances.

PKRC President Tariq Mahmood stated: “These evictions are a continuation of decades of exploitation. Land that has been cultivated by peasants for generations is now being handed over to corporate interests. This is a deliberate project of dispossession.”

AMP Vice President and Katora Farm resident, Advocate Shamoon Bhatti, declared that they would give their lives, but not an inch of their lands. “Women, youth, and children are all mobilised. Every village will resist,” he declared.

PKRC said that although the government has announced a wheat support price of Rs3,500 per 40kg, this remains largely symbolic. In Sindh, procurement has not begun despite the harvest season, forcing farmers to sell wheat at Rs2,000 – 2,450 per maund -- well below production costs. PKRC has announced meetings and large peasant mobilisations. These included a joint meeting in Lahore with AMP and civil society on 31 March; mass gathering at Muhammad Nagar Farm, Arifwala on April 5; International Day of Peasant Struggles: nationwide protests at more than 100 stations on April 17.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2026