LAHORE: Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, Anjuman Mazareen Punjab and representatives of various other peasants’ organizations demanded that the government should distribute the state land among landless peasants, rural women, youth and small farmers instead of handing it over to corporate farming.
They warned that they would not relinquish possession of their cultivated lands under any circumstances and would resist with all their might to protect the lands.
The demand was raised at a crucial meeting held by the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, Anjuman Mazareen Punjab, and Haqooq-e-Khalq Party, attended by peasant leaders from all over Punjab. The meeting devised a plan of action against the government’s measures aimed at displacing peasants.
‘Small farmers will not vacate their land’
Representatives from various left-wing political parties, peasants and small farmers’ movements, trade unions, lawyers, journalists, human rights organizations, and civil society participated in the meeting and press conference. They listened to the plight of peasants from Punjab and pledged to join the struggle for peasants’ rights against the oppressive system.
They also demanded that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz restore the Peasants Committee to address peasants’ issues and include genuine representatives of peasants and small farmers in the committee to resolve their problems.
In Punjab and Sindh, corporate farming is being used as a pretext to snatch lands from peasants and small farmers. Thousands of farming families in several districts of Punjab are being displaced from their lands, which are being handed over to a few corporate mafia. These lands have been cultivated by farming families for generations, and they have worked tirelessly to make barren lands arable.
The government has identified 4.8 million acres of land for corporate farming, with 0.9 million acres already leased out to various companies and individuals across Pakistan. However, peasants are resisting and refusing to leave their lands. Lands have been leased to companies and individuals for 30 to 50 years under the guise of corporate farming.
Companies, with police assistance, attempted to seize 27,000 acres of land in Arifwala and Hasilpur, but peasants thwarted their efforts. Peasants made it clear that they will not surrender their cultivated land, the meeting claimed.
The meeting alleged that the government is now using new tactics, issuing notices to peasants for sharecropping. Local patwaris and tehsildars are helping to serve notices to peasants, demanding payment of arrears worth billions of rupees. Police are also being used to forcibly obtain thumb impressions from peasants. The revenue department is issuing notices to peasants and intimidating them.
The meeting also discussed that six canals are being dug from the River Indus to facilitate corporate farming mafia in Cholistan. Farmers and farming communities have rejected this project outright, vowing not to allow the construction of these canals. This project will not only displace thousands of farming families but also destroy the ecosystem of the area.
The meeting was addressed by Farooq Tariq, General Secretary Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, Mehr Ghulam Abbas President Anjuman Mazareen Punjab, Baba Latif Ansari President Haqooq-e-Khalq Party Punjab, Dr Taimur Rahman Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party and various others.
They urged all democratic forces, political parties, and civil society organizations to join them in this struggle against corporate farming and the displacement of peasants.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Comments