UMERKOT, March 7: A first-ever ‘land hearing’ was organised by a multinational welfare organisation OXFAM and Sindh Agriculture & Forestry Workers Coordinating Organisation (SAFWCO) in Umerkot on Thursday.
The event was held in connection with International Women’s Day being observed today (March 8).
The jury, comprising Pakistan People’s Party Senator Taj Haider and social activist Punhal Saryo, heard cases of about 150 hari women who had been granted land under the Sindh government’s land distribution programme for landless peasants.
The women, most of whom had cases filed against them by landlords for ownership of land allotted to them, shared their problems with the jury.
Speaking on the occasion, Sindh PPP general secretary Taj Haider said that land reforms were necessary for socio-economic development.
“Abolishment of the Sharia bill and the 8th amendment to the constitution were necessary for implementing land reforms,” he said, alleging that Pakistan Muslim League leader Nawaz Sharif “was the main hurdle for this move”.
He said that planning, surveying and legislation regarding this matter had been done but ‘boots’ had come into power before it could take shape. Senator Haider said that the PPP-led government had done a lot for empowerment of the people, especially women, such as the poverty survey, introduction of the National Database Registration Authority, provision of Watan Cards, Waseela-i-Haq programme, Benazir income support and land distribution programmes.
He said that instead of only planning, the government had begun direct distribution of services and distribution of land under the Sindh government programme (16 acres to each peasant).
Talking about poor women farmers, he admitted that though they should have been given 16 acres of land by the government, they were allotted only two acres since land available was not enough. “It will be given to them when it is available,” he said. Also speaking on the occasion, SAFWCO chief Suleman Abro said that women’s ownership of land was further compromised by proxy ownership, which he called ‘benami’. Besides benami, according to him, there have also been widespread lapses in the implementation of Muslim inheritance law, according to which transfer of land among men and women is unequal.
“The Sindh government’s land distribution programme of allotting land to landless hari women is a significant example,” he said. “Though there were problems in the programme’s implementation, the fact that women were identified as primary beneficiaries was an important breakthrough.” He demanded that the Sindh government begin the third phase of land distribution to women peasants, declaring his resolve to hold another land hearing on the national level.
Social and political analyst Zulfiquar Halepoto said the Constitution of Pakistan gave equal land entitlement to women under Articles 23, 24 and 28. Quoting a survey published by the International Centre for Research on Women in 2005, Mr Halepoto said that though women did 70 per cent of the farming work, they owned less than three per cent of the land and they might not even be able to exercise total control over it.
He said that 65 per cent of the land in the country was owned by a few landlords, while a huge number of people remained landless.
Jury member Punhal Saryo said that discriminatory laws, such as the Law of Evidence and Hudood Ordinance, existed within the Pakistani legal framework. “This discrimination was underpinned by the fact that social structures existed which perpetuated unequal power relations between men and women, severely hindering the women from attaining their rights.”
He said that given the links between ownership, access to land and poverty, it was not surprising that a number of international conventions focused on land rights issues and women’s rights in this area. Key international conventions highlighted their importance and categorically stated that governments needed to ensure equal rights, opportunities, access and control of resources and empowerment to women, added Mr Saryo.